MOUNT VERNON — Mount Vernon City Council members agreed that administration officials could seek qualified firms for upcoming municipal projects. However, they stopped short of authorizing officials to sign a contract.
Council members twice amended Resolution 2024-102 before approving it on its third reading on Monday night.
It authorized the safety-service director to release a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and select a firm for professional services related to the wastewater plant rehabilitation and the new police station and courthouse.
The first amendment added language clarifying the three projects. The second struck the contract clause that allows the SSD to contract with the selected firm.
The firm selected would manage the three projects using the construction manager-at-risk (CMR) construction method.
Attorney Ben Hyden of Bricker Grayden presented four project management methods in a Streets and Public Buildings committee meeting.
Hyden said that, in his professional opinion, the CMR is the best option because the projects are complex.
“They’re large projects. When the CMR is brought on board earlier, there’s better teamwork between the three parties (owner, the designer, and the construction manager),” he said. “It creates a team during the preconstruction services, and the preconstruction services add a ton of value of planning and thinking through the project.”
Hyden added that the CMR makes the project smoother during active construction, reducing potential claims and adversarial head-butting.
He acknowledged the CMR fee structure could be more expensive on smaller projects. However, he said the city’s projects are so large the fee will not add much to the overall cost.
Additionally, he said the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission will only use CMR on large projects.
Sticking points
One advantage of CMR is that the company gets involved early in the design phase.
The wastewater plant is in design. The police station and courthouse finished the planning phase and are ready for design.
Administration officials received RFQs from design firms and will choose an architect before the CMR comes on board. The CMR reviews the designs and suggests cost savings before the documents are finalized and submitted to the state.
During the preconstruction phase, the city pays the CMR a flat rate, usually $150,000 to $200,000.
When the city finalizes the designs, it will decide whether to continue with the CMR for construction or revert to the traditional bid process.
Councilman Mike Miller favors the CMR method but voiced concern that council members were asked to commit up to $600,000 in preconstruction fees without being fully briefed on the projects.
“I would love for us to hire a CMR. I think that is the absolute best way to do it,” he said. “But I think council needs to have its head wrapped around the entire project. And I don’t think all of council does.”
Councilman Mel Severns acknowledged Miller’s concerns about the potential $600,000 but said if a CMR saves the city several millions, it offsets the $600,000.
“I guess I’m not getting too caught up on the fact that we didn’t know that maybe [we might spend] $150,000 to $200,000,” he said.
Miller responded that it gets to the issues of transparency and trust.
Public involvement affects final cost
Councilwoman Tammy Woods noted that the original legislation authorized the administration to contract with a CMR in addition to the CMR fees.
“I’ve still not got the answer to how we’re going pay for these three projects,” she said, adding that many numbers have been given. “Where is that coming from? How are we going to pay this?”
City Engineer Brian Ball said all three projects are under the federal umbrella.
“So as we go further, all these projects are going to have an involved section of public involvement. There’s going to be a lot of actions needed by the public,” he said.
The design phase for the police station and courthouse includes public involvement.
“We realize we have not addressed the comments from the public meetings,” Ball said. “But we don’t have any action because we don’t have a designer. Once we get the designer, we’re going to go through the public involvement process,” Ball said.
“The thing that I love about the CMR is they’re going to come back with a guaranteed maximum price.”
He acknowledged that costs are “flying all over the place,” partly because the city does not know whether to use existing buildings or build new ones.
“There are a lot of questions we need to answer from the public,” he said.
Ball reiterated the preliminary drawings focused on the inside of the buildings.
“There are a lot of things that have to be taken care of and designed as far as the outside,” he said.
However, the wastewater project is farther along, with the staff ready to pick out equipment. Ball said the value of having a CMR is the company’s experience in buying and installing equipment.
