Agenda - Council - 08/11/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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contract, and performing construction staking. City staff ordered the Geotechnical Evaluation Report and provided it to Hakanson Anderson to assist in their final design effort. City staff also collected the required field topography data and provided it to Hakanson Anderson to assist in their final design and construction staking efforts. City staff will also inspect construction, and will be primarily responsible for construction administration/management duties during the project, with minor assistance from Hakanson Anderson as needed. Notification: Following Council approval, staff will publish advertisements for bids in the Anoka County Union and in Finance and Commerce on August 15th, 22nd, and 29th to meet the requirements of State Statutes. Observations/Alternatives: Observations: In December of 2012, the City was successfully awarded a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) grant from the Metropolitan Council's Livable Communities Program in an amount not to exceed $650,369. The agreement was fully executed in June of 2013. This grant program was made available for certain areas surrounding transit opportunities throughout the metropolitan area. The grant provides funding for the design, engineering, and partial construction of Center Street within The COR development area based on five funding groups. City staff was previously informed that construction must be complete by April30, 2015 for the City to be eligible to receive the TOD grant funding. However, on Tuesday, August 5th, staff was informed by the Met Council that we actually have until December 31, 2015 to complete construction. Therefore, the project may now either be bid this fall to achieve substantial completion in 2014, with minor punch list work to be completed in May of 2015, or the project could be bid in the spring of 2015 to allow construction to be completed by August of 2015. Bidding the project now would allow the project to be completed in the spring of 2015. This could assist in the marketability of the adjacent properties in The COR. However, staff is hearing that the bidding environment is not favorable right now because of a heavy back -log of work being experienced by contractors due to the wet spring which is resulting in fewer and higher bids on similar public improvement projects. Conversely, bidding the project in the spring of 2015 would allow the City to take advantage of what has typically been the most competitive bidding environment. However, the construction of Center Street would then not be completed until August of 2015 which may dampen the marketability of adjacent properties in The COR. Either way, the Happy Days event will not be impacted. It should be noted that bidding the project now does not mean that the Council has to accept the low bid. The City has the right to reject all bids and bid the project at a later date. However, doing so may have a negative effect on one or more of the contractors that bid the project and they may add a little extra to the subsequent bid to make up for their losses on the un-awarded bid. Staff was also recently informed by the Met Council that we will need to update all funding group estimates following bids to verify which of the project elements are eligible for TOD grant funding. Staff will work through this recent request with Met Council staff as fast as we can so that when bids come in we are positioned to capture the maximum amount of awarded TOD grant funding. However, any items not covered by TOD grant funding would then need to be paid for from another funding source. This will take some time to work through with the Met Council, but staff feels confident that this can be done within the next few weeks. Alternatives: Alternative Action #1 - Motion to adopt Resolution 14-08-160 accepting plans and specifications and authorizing advertisement for bids for Improvement Project #14-24, Center Street Improvements. This action should be selected if Council wishes to bid the project now for fall 2014 construction. Alternative Action #2 - Motion denying adoption of Resolution 14-08-160. This action should be selected if Council wishes to bid the project in the spring of 2015 for spring/summer 2015 construction.