ThisWeek CW 10/30/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/10/27/multiple-service-contracts-up-for-renewal.html
As the year winds down, officials in Canal Winchester are considering several contract renewals for city services.
At the Oct. 20 City Council committee meetings, staff presented contract renewals related to legal services, public health services, and building and inspection services. Besides the renewals, Construction Services Administrator Bill Sims said his department was looking to outsource additional construction inspection services. He hopes to bring a proposal to council for those services before the end of the year.
“We have a series of contracts ending at the end of the year and our thoughts were to renew contracts with EMH&T and Bird + Bull for the engineering and inspection services they provide … and I’d like to renew the contract with Resource International for our testing services,” Sims said.
The EMH&T annual services contract runs $24,000, while the one for Bird + Bull’s annual services is $12,000.
For 2015, the city anticipates the contract for EMH&T going to $25,000 and Bird + Bull increasing to $14,000. This adjustment reflects the nature of the services the firms are providing. Both typically provide design services for specific projects separate from the annual services contract. Examples include the Street Program and and the Water Reclamation Facility upgrades.
The contract for Resource International, which provides materials testing services and geotechnical engineering, was budgeted at $15,000 for 2014; the city anticipates the amount for 2015 being similar.
He said he anticipates only minor changes to the agreements, “like changes to the number of meetings we want them to attend so that we aren’t wasting anyone’s time, but the city still has adequate access.”
Sims said he also would like to include construction inspection services as either an addition to one of the renewed contracts or as a new contract. According to Sims, these services are used for review of civil engineering components constructed beyond any physical structure.
“The difference between the building official and construction inspection services is that, there’s essentially an envelope of 5 feet around structures which belong to building inspection, and the rest is civil,” Sims said.
The city is in the process of hiring a new chief building official after Gary Webb, the current official, announced his retirement last month. Depending on hiring negotiations, the new official’s salary and benefits package is estimated to cost the city $90,000. That figure would represent a savings of several thousand dollars over contracting this position out, according to city officials.
City Finance Director Amanda Jackson also requested council to consider renewing a contract with the city of Columbus attorney’s office to prosecute certain criminal cases, such as those involving domestic violence.
“This is a per-case basis contract, $30 each case, so it varies in cost depending on activity, but it’s a very minor contract; I think the last quarterly bill was only a couple hundred dollars,” Jackson said.
She said the attorney’s office is responsible for case intake work for the city, and the quarterly bills have remained between $30 and $200 throughout the year.
Council heard a first reading of legislation to renew the contract with the city of Columbus. It also heard a second reading of legislation in regard to a renewal of the Franklin County Public Health contract, which is set to increase by 17 percent for 2015. Jackson originally introduced that item at the Oct. 6 meeting.
Sims said he hopes to have his contracts ready for council to consider ahead of the new year, possibly by the Nov. 17 meeting.