Montrose, CO — City Councilors met for their regular meeting Tuesday evening, July 18, to approve an amended fuel contract and a contract to renovate the future City Hall on Main Street.
Councilors Barbara Bynum, David Reed, and Ed Ulibarri met in City Council Chambers along with city staff. Councilor Dave Frank joined via the Zoom platform.
The following is a summary of the primary topics discussed during the meeting.
Watch the meeting here.
PARK AND RECREATION MONTH PROCLAMATION
Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Bynjum read a proclamation declaring that July 2022 is Park and Recreation Month in the City of Montrose.
The City of Montrose, along with the Montrose Recreation District, MRD, have joined the U.S. House of Representatives in designating July as Park and Recreation Month in the United States.
Bynum said parks and recreation programs are an integral part of communities throughout this country, including that served by MRD and the city.
“Parks and recreation are vitally important to establishing and maintaining the quality of life in communities, ensuring the health of all citizens, and contributing to the economic and environmental well-being of a community and region,” Bynum said.
Parks and recreation programs build healthy, active communities that aid in the prevention of chronic disease, provide therapeutic recreation services for those who are mentally or physically disabled, and also improve the mental and emotional health of all citizens.
Recreation programs increase a community’s economic prosperity through increased property values, expansion of the local tax base, increased tourism, the attraction and retention of businesses, and crime reduction. Parks and natural recreation areas improve water quality, protect groundwater, prevent flooding, improve the quality of the air we breathe, provide vegetative buffers to development, and produce habitat for wildlife.
“Our parks and natural recreation areas ensure the ecological beauty of our community and provide a place for children and adults to connect with nature and recreate outdoors,” Bynum said.
PUBLIC COMMENT
One local resident said he was curious about recent crime in the community that has affected his business. He thanked police commanders for their time in meeting with him and asked to sit down with the City Council to discuss local crime.
One local resident said she is following work to the former Wells Fargo building that will become the future offices of City Hall and requested that the city consider installing solar panels on the renovated structure during later phases of the project.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the July 5, 2022, regular City Council meeting.
The city’s archive of past meeting minutes can be found on the new Public Meetings Portal and at CityofMontrose.org/ArchiveCenter.
FUEL CONTRACT AMENDMENT
City Councilors voted unanimously to amend the city’s fuel contract as a result of a number of fuel and energy price increases across the country.
Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the city awarded the current fuel contract to Parish Oil in March 2020. This contract is set to expire in March 2023. Since the time of award, the freight charges and fees associated with Parish Oil receiving and delivering fuel have increased significantly and Parish is requesting that the city consider amending the fees associated with the fuel charges for the remaining contract term.
With these increases applied, Parish Oil prices are still below the prices proposed in the other bids received in March 2020. Staff is recommending that the council authorize these price increases until contract completion in March 2023 when the city requests bids for a new fuel contract.
CITY HALL RENOVATION CONTRACT AWARD
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve a proposal to award $1,500,000 for the renovation of the future offices of City Hall at 400 E. Main St (the former Wells Fargo building), including the award of a contract with FCI Constructors, Inc. as the construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC).
Public Works Manager Jim Scheid said the City of Montrose issued a request for proposals for the CM/GC services for the renovation of City Hall in May 2022. The city received two qualified proposals – FCI Constructors, Inc from Grand Junction and Stryker and Co from Montrose. The two firms were interviewed by the City of Montrose selection committee, which included Blythe Group as the architect and Dynamic Program Management as the owner’s representative on the project. After the proposals, GC costs, estimates, and interviews with the two well-qualified applicants were evaluated, FCI Constructors, Inc. was chosen by the selection committee.
With the approval of the award recommendation, the city’s construction management team will move forward with the design process in company with FCI’s pre-con team to establish a baseline of project costs to help keep the design on budget. This will enable the team to establish a Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP). The proposal that was submitted includes the general conditions costs and a percentage for the contractor’s mark-up (fee), which will be applied at the time of awarding a GMP construction contract amendment. A notice to proceed will be issued with the execution of the GMP contract amendment, likely in October of this year.
In preparation for this project, the city has already awarded the asbestos abatement contract, via City Council approval in early June 2022, and has begun the process of procuring a contractor for installing a new roof on a portion of the building. This small head start has allowed for a potential project completion date to be set at February 1, 2023.
Contract Administration and Project Financials.
Included within the contract total $1.5 million are the estimated costs for the contractor’s scope and the owner-provided items. The estimated total for the contractor’s scope (GMP) at this time, without any design work completed, is about $750,000. The estimated costs for the owner-provided scope are also about $750,000. Owner-provided scope includes design team (architect/engineer), asbestos abatement, lower roof replacement, furniture, IT equipment, office/kitchen equipment, moving contractor, and owner’s representative.
The immediate contract with FCI is for pre-construction only at this time in the amount of $5,062 but would be amended at the time of GMP with the overall project budget to remain at $1.5M.
STAFF REPORTS
Assistant Finance Director Eric Haynes delivered the sales, use, and excise tax report for May 2022.
Read the reports in their entirety here.
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All City Council meetings are recorded and made available online via the city’s website and cable channels 191 for Charter subscribers and 970 for Elevate subscribers. Replays of council meetings are also broadcast at 6 p.m. on the same channels on days that the council is not in session.
In addition, each regular meeting is archived on the City of Montrose’s YouTube channel.
Residents can watch all regular City Council meetings and work sessions live or on-demand through the city’s Public Meetings Portal.
For more city news visit CityOfMontrose.org.