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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987/03/10-Agenda-Pre-CouncilA G E N D A PRE-COUNCIL MEETING TUESDAY, MARCH 10, 1987 8:30 A.M. PRE-COUNCIL CHAMBER FOR ACTION TODAY 1) Award of Multiple Contracts for Construction of the Municipal Building Third Floor Completion (M&C C-10160) -David A. Ivory, Senior Assistant City Manager and Thurman Wolfe, City Architect (10 Min.) 2) 3) 5) 6) Application for Econ001ic Development Grant for Use of the Stockyards .Area (M&C G-6990) -Bob Terrell, Assistant City Manager (20 Min.) Questions/Answers Concerning Current Agenda Items -Douglas Harman, City Manager ( 5 Min.) FOR DISCUSSION ONLY Southwest Freeway Update -David A. Ivory, Senior Assistant City Manager (20 Min.) Professional Services Selection Process Davi9 A. Ivory, Senior Assistant City Manager and Ruth Ann McKinney, Assistant City Manager (20 Min.) Change in Bond Sale Date-A. Judson Bailiff, Finance Director ( 5 Mi n • ) FOR FUTURE ACTION 7) Proposed Changes to Purchasing Policies -A. Judson Bailiff, Finance Director ( 5 Min.) The Meeting ends at 9:55 a.m. To add or make revisions, please call the City Manager's Offi 870-6140, before 3:00P.M., t1onday, March 9, 1987 - e OFFICIAL RECORD r CITY SECRETARY T. WORTH, TEX. The purpose of the Pre-Council Conference held prior to a regular City Council Meeting is to allow the t~ayor and Councilmembers to discuss infor- mally items on the agenda and to secure information fr001 the City ~1anager and the staff. Although the meeting is open to the public, citizens are requested to reserve c001ments and questions for the subsequent Council meeting so they will be a part of the public record. PRE-COUNCIL PRE-COUNCIL CHAMBERS MARCH 10, 1987 ALL COUNCILMEN PRESENT ITEM: 1. SOUTHWEST FREEWAY UPDATE - David Ivory, Senior Assistant City Manager, provided Council with an update on the Southwest Freeway. Mr. Ivory reported that there is an effort now to amend federal legislation which prohibits combining federal highway trust money and toll money. This would enable the freeway to be a partial tollway. Mr. Ivory said that there was a proposal several years ago that would allow the combining of toll and federal money and this would be an opportunity to provide a good financing mechanism for what the City calls urban freeways. Currently there are stringent requirments on the use of federal money in this area. It was announced by Mr. Dallas Williams, Assistant Director of Transportation, that the City survey crews should have the center line indicating the "marking" of the Southwest Freeway from I-20 to FM 1187 by the end of the week. Developers Mr. LeBlanc and Ken Frisbee were introduced as those who are leading the move to organize the Southwest Freeway Dedication Corporation. The non- profit corporation plan to lock in the required right-of-way for the proposed roadway from I-20 south to Farm Market Road 1187. It was reported by Mr. LeBlanc, that property owners would dedicate right-of-way to the corporation rather than to the City. The corporation will hold the right-of-way until the road is built or cancelled. As explained by Mr. LeBlanc, if it is cancelled, the dedicatory deeds will contain reversion clauses returning the donated right-of- way land to the developers who agreed to donate it. "By law, it will be much easier for the corporation to obey the reversion clauses than for the City to go through a reversion process," said Mr. LeBlanc. Mr. LeBlanc and Mr. Frisbee told Council they expect to have the property owners, who have agreed to donate land, become members of the corporation once it is formed. "By and large, the land owners are receptive to forming the corporation, Mr. LeBlanc reported. Council voiced concern of the actual land that is to be dedicated and the cooperation existing among the developers and the land owners. The Council would like to see the freeway dedication under completed and alternatives for having the freeway developed, as soon as possible. 2. AWARD OF MULTIPLE CONTRACTS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING THIRD FLOOR COMPLETION - Mr. David Ivory, Senior Assistant City Manager, spoke briefly to Council about the current status of the multiple contracts for the Municipal Building Third Floor. He informed Council that there is a total of twenty-six bid contracts to be approved in order to clear the way for construction to begin on the shelled- in portion of the third floor. Mr. Thurman Wolff, City Architect, was introduced to provide Council and overview of the bids contained in M&C C-10160. Mr. Wolff explained to Council that the consultation between the Architect, V. Aubrey Hallum, (who provided architectural services for a space needs study of the Municipal Building), Construction Manager and City Staff resulted in separation of the City Hall project into twenty-six bid packages corresponding with the different trades normally associated with construction of a building. Mr. Wolff stated that the total amount of bid packages recommended for award was $1,230,670, which is under the estimated project cost. He added that subsequent to receiving the bids stated in M&C C-10160, it was determined that additional work would be required to strengthen the floor structure above the City Council Chambers. A structural engineer is currently providing a comprehensive analysis regarding the situation. Mayor Bolen questioned the "no bid" category in M&C C-10160. Mr. Wolff stated that most of these items were under $5,000 which are considered small dollar items. These items were handled through the City's Purchasing and Transportation and Public Works Department. Mayor Bolen also questioned whether the "Constuction-Manager" process was more difficult than the usual process of bidding the whole project to one contractor. Mr. Wolff responded that the same amount of individuals would have been involved regardless of which process was utilized. Councilman Lancaster asked why Bid Package #23 was not funded. It was stated by Mr. Wolff that the furniture would not be needed at this time. Mr. Wolff announced that the award of the bids would be expected within the next 10 days and that construction is set to begin April 17. The project is expected to take approximately seven months to complete. 3. APPLICATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GRANT FOR USE OF THE STOCKYARD AREA · Mr. Robert Terrell, Assistant City Manager, informed Council of the grant application to the Economic Development Administration (EDA) in the amount of $11,800,000 to establish a revolving loan fund (RLF) program for the Stockyards area. It was added that as a result of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings bill, the $4.5 million EDA funds has been reduced to $4.3 million. The other EDA funding of $7.5 million was not affected by the bill. Therefore, a total of $11.8 million in EDA funds is currently available to be used exclusively in the Stockyard area. Mr. Terrell informed Council that although these funds have been included in the appropriations bill and require no match, the City must still submit a formal application to EDA before they can be used. It was noted by Mr. Terrell, that in an effort to restructure the financing of the project, Stockyard '85, recently joined with the Mallick Company to form the Fort Worth Stockyard Corporation. The new firm is arranging permanent financing for the private portion of Phase II of the project that involves conversion of the horse and mule barns into a commercial area and the creation of a festival area for family entertainment. • Council expressed concern about the boundaries of the Stockyard area. Councilman Lancaster asked if the grant will stated the geographic limitation of the LDC. Mr. Terrell indicated that presently there is no set boundary. ·He added that the process of determining the boundaries will be completed before the actual grant is written. Councilman Lancaster was concerned about the use of the re-paid loans. Mr. Terrell stated that when funds are re-paid to the LDC by the Corporation, the funds could be used for additional loans for Stockyards area improvements, including infrastructure improvements. Mr. Bill Beuck, Executive Vice Chairman of the Fort Worth Stockyard Corporation, provided an update on additional Stockyard projects. He stated that the area will be known as a "Destination Project", drawing people in a constant flow and in large numbers. It is the Stockyard Corporation's goal to convert the Stockyard District into a world-class tourist attraction, stressing the area's western heritage. Among the various projects the Corporation will maintain, Mr. Beuck stated that there will be continuing effort to invest in the cattle and horse industry. He added that due to the changing nature of the cattle industry, there is a need to introduce sophisticated and high level technology advances. It is their goal to use these technologies to improve the cattle industry. The Corporation also plans to build a 20,000-seat amphitheater on the Swift Packing Plant property east of the Stockyards. The emphasis on maintaining the western heritage and rejuvenating the Stockyard cattle industry drew praise from Councilman Murrin. 4. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES SELECTION PROCESS - Assistant City Manager Ruth Ann McKinney provided City Council with a presentation on the City's consultation selection process. Ms. McKinney stated that the purpose of the consultation selection process is to secure the services of a qualified consultant for the City on a particular project. She added that consultants will not be required to have an office within the City limits of Fort Worth; however, to allow for close coordination, an office should be located within a reasonable proximity of the City limits of Fort Worth. Council expressed concern about the City utilizing local consultants. It was their view that the City should use every opportunity to contract with local consultants. As Councilman Murrin expressed he would like the City to lean to City local consultants as much as possible. Councilman Garrison indicated that there are times when the City should contract with an outside company to utilize nationally reputable companies for certain projects. The example used was when the City of Dallas contracted with the architect I.M. Pei for the design of their Municipal Building. Councilman Garrison asked how long had there been a problem with contracting outside of the City limits? Ms. McKinney indicated that contracting with an outside consultant is an unusual process. Mr. Harman informed Council that there is an overwhelming strong pattern of contracting with local consultants. He added that Staff will provide a listing of professional service vendors and major contractors. This, as Mr. Harman maintained, would be useful to see the City's contracting pattern. • 5. CHANGE IN BOND SALE DATE · Judson Bailiff, Finance Director announced that the Water and Sewer Bond sale has been changed from March 11 at noon and March 18 at noon. 6. PROPOSED CHANGES IN PURCHASING POLICIES · Judson Bailiff, Finance Director, informed Council of the current status of the City's purchasing policies. He told Council that the purchasing process can be streamlined if some basic changes are made to the purchasing policies. Tracy Pfisterer, Purchasing Manager, informed Council of the specific proposed changes. She stated first, that currently, the Purchasing Division has an 800 requisition backlog. Two studies, one by an outside consultant and the other by the City's Internal Audit Department, recommended changes to improve the system. Listed below are the proposed changes recommended by Ms. Pfisterer; 1) change rules for small purchases which currently allow direct purchases under $50 with a control number, to allow departments to make direct purchases of items costing $250 or less, 2) Increase verbal bids from $50 to $2,500, to $250 to $5,000, 3) change the procedure which makes requires written bids for all purchases above $2,500 to a policy which makes written bids optional when an order is between $5,000 to $10,000. As Ms. Pfisterer reported, the effect of the new policy would be to reduce the number of written bids which requires lengthy processing. This would reduce the bids from 1,000 to 750 annually. Mayor Bolen asked about the the legal contraints involved in establishing a reorder policy. Ms. Pfisterer said that the City is restricted by State law in that matter. Councilman Williams stated that there needs to be a change in the days of processing the bid, or an increase in the limits of available contracts , or more staff needs to be added to handle the workload. Councilman Zapata stated that Council had approved an increase in the dollar limits for small purchases and verbal bids, a few years ago and it appears the backlog situation remains the same. He strongly suggested there may be a need to increase annual contracts. In response to concerns raised by Council it was announced that no changes in the system will occur until a future Council work session, reviewing the entire purchasing system, is scheduled.