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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981-11-23 Board of Public Works Minutes Board of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 1 A meeting of the Board of Public Works convened in Room 16, Municipal Building at 7:30 P.M. Present were Chairman Cowell, Secretary Wood and Board Members DeHart, Fallon and Barker and Superintendent E. Roger Louanis. It was moved, seconded and voted 5: 0 to accept the minutes of the Board of Public Works meeting of November 16, 1981 as written. Next discussed was the progress of construction at the Water Treatment Plant. Present were Mr. Sohn Willis of Camp, Dresser & McKee and Alan Swan, On-Site Representative for the Engineering Division. Superintendent Louanis reported to the Board that there has been steady progress on-site. One of the problems, however, has been in relation to a planned program which we did not have until about a week ago which we received from the Contractor through the Engineer. The schedule has now been reviewed and the treatment plant should be substantially completed in September of 1982. The second floor has been poured and construction overall is substantially on schedule. Mr. Willis basically concurred with everything the Superintendent said. Mr. Willis stated the only problem may be with masonry, as the Contractor has found a problem with finding the correct block, however, this is not an extreme problemlas the building can be enclosed in plastic. Superintendent Louanis asked Mr. Willis if it was possible for Camp Dresser & McKee to advise the Town if the project would not go on schedule. Mr. Willis replied "only if there were a severe winter". At this point, it looks as if the windows and doors will not be installed until Spring. ['card of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 2 Mr. DeHart asked if there was a problem with the early removal of form work. Mr. Willis replied steps have been taken to prevent this and a concrete testing lab is testing future concrete work at Camp Dresser & McKee's expense. CDM feels at this point that there is no particular problem with the concrete at this time. Mr. DeHart inquired if there have been any temperatures below 40 degrees when we have been pouring concrete. Mr. Willis replied he didn't believe so, the concrete temperature today (11-23-61) was 58 degrees and 60 degrees, also, concrete can be poured in cold weather if it is covered with insulating blankets, etc. All Board members expressed their dissatisfaction with the weekly reports submitted by Mr. Moniz of CDM. They expressed a desire for more detailed reports than they have been receiving. Mr. Fallon felt the Board should be made aware of all aspects of the building process, including accidents, OSHA violations, etc. Mrs. Wood asked Mr. Willis to go over the Progress Chart on the wall for the Board. Mr. Willis pointed out that what is colored in is what has been done to date which actually represents the concrete work. Existing pumping station work should be completed by the end of February. Interior work is scheduled to be finished in April, ventilating and heating is scheduled for completion in July. Underground utilities are scheduled to be completed by May 25. July 27 is actually the start up and testing date which would go on for approximately two months. Board of Public Warks Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 3 Mr. Barker wants to go on record saying to go conservatively when doing form and concrete work . Chairman Cowell expressed his gratitude to Mr. Swan for doing such a wonderful jab. Mr. Swan asked Mr. Willis if the on-site testing is actually cylinder testing or actual on-site testing. Mr. Willis answered that there is a standard ASTM test, however, there has not been a date set as yet. Mr. Swan stated that overall there has been cooperation an most everyone's part. Mr. Barker requested another status report meeting, perhaps in January. Mr. Fallon expressed that he felt Mr. Swan should be commended for his work. The Board next discussed this year's snow plowing bids. Superintendent Louanis stated that in the past, the Department has received numerous complaints from plowers that our rates are much too low in comparison to surrounding towns. The Department decided it would be a good idea to bid to see if we were anywhere near the right range. This was discussed with the Town Counsel as to what would the Department do if i { we have not received enough plovers to do our routes. His recommendation was that since this is Pat a required bid item that the bidding process i could be used for information for the Department to set rates and not award any of the bids opened last week, but allow the Department to negotiate with each bidder on the basis of the different vehicles. The Town will set a standard rate for thehauling of the snow. Superintendent i r Board of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 4 Louanis will make a presentation regarding snow plowing in the near future to the Board. It was moved, seconded and voted 5; 0 to adopt the recommendations for snow plowing presented by the Department to the Board. The Board next met with Beth Klepeis, Town Treasurer, regarding Water Bonding. She met previously with Mike Haley and Dick Dempster on November 17. These two gentlemen are connected with municipal financing, one with Solomon Brothers Investment Services and one with Baybank. Our water rates would probably not have to be raised until January 1, 1984 and again 18 months later on July 1, 1985, both at less than 8%. The Superintendent explained the Water Chart drawn up by Mr. Bergeron to the Board. The Superintendent felt it made sense to try to have a 3-5X surplus for unknown items which may come up, since we are going into "enterprise accounting" which may mean unforseen added expenses. Mr. Louanis stated that it is his intention to approach "enterprise accounting" with an engineering approach rather than a piecemeal approach. Mrs. Klepies informed the Board that the State has published a manual regarding "enterprise accounting" and as with all State mandates, there is some leeway involved. The interest earned on the bonds we sell can go into the enterprise fund. Her suggestion is to keep in close touch with Mr. McDonald, Town Accountant, who has been educated specifically regarding "enterprise accounting Board of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 5 The original thought was that the Town would continue borrowing money for the project, however, the rate started to drop, and the financial advisors suggested this was a good time to sell municipal bonds, because the market is dropping at this time, and there is a market available for selling them now. In two years, we may not be able to sell these bonds. We are not really saving anything by rolling-over these short-term notes all the time as the interest is high. The existing water bonds are declining and in 1985 the bonds will be paid off. The interest can be invested on the money that is not used. Perhaps we could pay off the interest on the bonds by investing. This is called legal arbitrage. The idea is to try to make the Water Department self-sufficient and not really build up a large reserve. It was moved, seconded and voted 4:0: 1 that the Board approve the Bond Schedule as presented by the Board of Public Works Water Department. The memo from the Personnel Board to all Departments was accepted as a point of information. It was moved, seconded and voted 5:0 that the memo be posted on all Departmental bulletin boards and a report from the Chairman of the Personnel Sub-committee should be forthcoming shortly. It was moved, seconded and voted 5:0 to table the following items until the next meeting of the Board of Survey: 1. Letter from Rivers Development Corporation re: Sunnyside Avenue 1 +i i Board of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 6 2. Letter from Rivers Development Corp. re: Buckingham Drive. 3. Letter from 0. Bradley Latham re: Chapel Hill Estates 4. Letter from William C. Wagner re: Evelyn Muise, property on C Street, Reading. Under Old and New Business, the letter from the M.A.P.C. regarding a meeting on December 8 regarding their preliminary findings on the re-use potential of the Reading Sanitary Landfill was accepted as a point of information. �^ The letter from John Moore regarding hockey nets for Sturges Park iW was discussed. The Superintendent stated that hockey nets could be Lfabricated from some old chain link fence. It was moved, seconded and voted 5:0 to install nets at Birchmeadow, Sturges and Memorial Parks. Mr. DeHart requested a report on the meeting with the M.D.C. on i proposed work an the pumping station. Superintendent Louanis is the Chairman of this new subcommittee, which is doing an evaluation of the MDC sewer pumping station on Summer Avenue at Route 128. It is now called a i "facility plan". The study will run from November 28 until about the end 1 j of June of 1982 to look at alternatives to resolve the problems. Reading, Wakefield, Woburn, Stoneham and Wilmington are the Towns involved. d , I i Board of Public Works Meeting of November 23, 1981 Page 7 Mr. Fallon moved that the Board go into Executive Session to discuss personnel matters, not to reconvene in open session. It was seconded and the Chairman polled the Board as follows: Mr. Barker - aye Mr. Fallon - aye Mr. DeHart - aye Mrs. Wood - aye Mr. Cowell - aye The Board signed the Payroll for the period ending 11-20-81. The Board signed the Bill Roll for the period ending 11-20-81. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 P.M. . Respectfully subb�mii''tted, &J—;J- t-4� Secretary