HomeMy WebLinkAboutIR 9798 INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 9798
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council August 11, 2015
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•a SUBJECT: SEATING IN CITY COUNCIL CHAMBERS
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This informal report is intended to provide the Mayor and City Council with an update on improving the
audience seats in the City Council Chambers.
Background
The audience seats in the Council Chambers are the original seats installed when City Hall was
constructed in 1970. After 45 years the seats are showing extreme signs of wear. Many of the seats
wobble due to worn pivot points, broken connections, and loose pedestals. The seat padding and covers
are compressed, torn, and stained. The original manufacturer is unknown and replacement parts are not
available. While the seats could be reupholstered with new padding and covers, the underlying
mechanical condition of the seats would remain problematic.
The seats are each individually fastened to the concrete deck below using anchors that go through the
carpet. The carpet was last replaced in 1988 far exceeding its useful life. The carpet is worn flat in many
areas and has permanent stains. With the proposed replacement of the existing seats, staff recommends
that the carpet be replaced at the same time to avoid duplicating the labor expense in the future.
Proposed Action
While considering the replacement of Council Chamber seats and carpet, staff reviewed the possibility of
combining this work with the proposed Fort Worth Convention Center (FWCC) seat refurbishment project.
The FWCC scope of work is for refurbishment only because spare parts are available to repair these seats
while the proposed Council Chamber scope of work involves the installation of new chairs and carpet.
Since combining the projects into one contract would eliminate both vendors who specialize in only seat
refurbishment and vendors that install new products exclusively, staff believes that combining these
projects could eliminate potential competition thus increasing the overall cost because of the smaller
vendor pool. The recommended action is to proceed with the FWCC and Council Chamber seats/carpet
as two separate projects to achieve maximum vendor participation on both.
Funding
The replacement of the carpet and seats has been included in the City Manager's FY16 proposed Capital
Improvement Program budget. The approved improvement package provides for $118,000 to replace the
City Council Chamber carpet and seats in FY16.
If approved in the final adopted FY16 budget, the proposed timeline for installation of carpet and new
seats is as follows:
October 2016 Issue Request for Proposals
November 2016 Select Best Value Offer
December 2016 Work performed
David Cooke
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS