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Home My WebLink About08-13-20041225 Main Street [] Sebastian, Florida 32958 Telephone (772) 589-5330 [3 Fax (772) 589-5570 City Council Information Letter August 13, 2004 Louisiana Avenue Improvement Pro.qram Yesterday afternoon, the Office of the City Manager hosted a bid/proposal opening session governing submittals associated with the upcoming Louisiana Avenue Neighborhood Revitalization Program. I am pleased to report that a total of three (3) construction firms delivered well-written proposals to the City of Sebastian for review and consideration accordingly. As such, a respective staff review of each packet is currently underway, necessary to prepare recommendations to City Council in time for your August 25th regular meeting. This process will therefore of course enable authorization of both expenditures, including the balance of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds awarded to the City of Sebastian last year for this project, and budgeted matching contributions, as well as a contract with the company that submitted the lowest responsible bid for the project. Once authorizations have been granted, staff in both the General Services Division of the Office of the City Manager and the Department of Engineering will work diligently to prepare notice(s) to proceed with respective construction activities. I will therefore advise City Council soon after this issuance process so as to communicate respective timeframes and anticipated project completion dates as agreed to by all parties. More Potential Fundin,q - Federal Aviation Administration As some of you may be aware, city administration has recently initiated efforts to engage a bid/proposal solicitation process governing the Sebastian Municipal Airport Taxiway A Rehabilitation and Apron Construction Program, You may also recall this project becoming feasible as a result of securing various grant awards from both the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Aviation Section. FAA funding requirements are quite distinct from other City Council Information Letter August 13, 2004 Page 2 grant programs in that actual dollar amounts are based on both engineered (in advance of proposal submittal) construction estimates as well as analysis of proposed bids submitted to municipalities for respective project(s). As referenced in the attached electronic mail message as compiled and delivered per my direction by Airport Director Jason Milewski, a recent sealed bid opening session revealed proposed costs to be over $400,000 conservatively higher than initial engineering estimates. Fortunately, Jason was able to immediately contact FAA officials to engage their review exercise to deem eligibility for additional funding to the City of Sebastian to cover the aforementioned expenses. We received word from FAA earlier this week that the submitted proposed estimates in fact qualify for additional financial assistance. As such, the FAA is working to assemble a respective funding allocation to Sebastian Municipal Airport for this purpose. Respective recommendations, including consideration of execution of a grant agreement, will therefore be offered during your next regular meeting. Tree and Landscape Advisory Committee Recommendations Additional Requirements for New Residential Units As discussed during a recent City Council meeting, recommendations from the Tree and Landscape Advisory Committee relative to possible additional tree and shrubbery requirements for newly constructed residential properties was forwarded by staff to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) some time ago for respective consideration and discussion. Please be advised that this matter will be scheduled as a specific agenda item during the September 2nd P&Z meeting. The anticipated and hopeful outcome will be some formal direction, whether it is an adoption to accept recommendations as presented, or a modified set of guidelines. Either case will ensure our ability to provided an opportunity for City Council to both consider and adopt respective regulations and requirements during your September 22"d regular meeting. Florida League of Cities Annual Conference As the City of Sebastian will be well represented during next week's Florida League of Cities Annual Conference, please be advised that no information letter report will be delivered Friday, August 20th. For those of you who are attending, please enjoy yourselves and learn a great deal concurrently. Hopefully, there will be no need for any of you to speak with us during this City Council Information Letter August 13, 2004 Page 3 time. However, accessibility via home, office or cellular telephone will continue to be available, should by chance the need to speak arise. Enclosure(s): Electronic Mail Message from Airport Director Jason M[lewski - Airport Taxiway A Rehab and Apron Construction Program My Docu ments/In fo Lett er227 Terrence Moore From: Sent: To: Subject: Jason Milewski Thursday, August 12, 2004 4:46 PM Terrence Moore Taxiway A Rehab and Construct Apron Terrence, This email is to update you regarding recent developments for the airport capital project entitled, "Rehabilitate Taxiway A and Construct Aircraft Parking Apron." As you're already aware, a few months ago, we received a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) indicating that they have tentatively funded 95% pement of the above-referenced project. From receipt of that letter, staff had to scramble to have it designed and bid, as we needed to submit a formal grant application including opened bids by August 13, 2004. The estimated cost of the project was $1 million. On Wednesday, August 4, at 2:00 pm., we opened sealed bids from two submitting firms. To our surprise, the lowest bid was over $400,000 more than the projected cost estimate. After evaluating both bids in great detail, it was determined that the rising cost of oil, asphalt, and concrete were the underlying causes for the added expense. Though there were only two bidders, the proposals only differed by approximately $30,000. After discussing this issue with the FAA, it was suggested that we subroit a grant application for the total amount needed with the hope that they could fund the difference (at 95%) with savings from other statewide projects. However, they cannot make a determination until the week of August 23 leaving us only two days to receive, approve, and execute the grant agreement, as it needs to be returned to their office no later than August 26, 2004. So, as you can see, we are once again in a critical time crunch. Hopefully, all will go well and they'll be able to fund the difference. If this alternative proves unsuccessful, we may have to postpone the entire project until next fiscal year. As always, Ill keep you informed of any developments related to this issue, as I am still investigating other alternatives and possible solutions. Please do not hesitate to contact me, should you have any questions or need any further clarification. Sincerely, Jason Milewski, C.M. Airpo~ Dimctor Sebastian Municipal Airport 1225 Main Street Sebastian, FL 32958 (772) 581,.0111 (7?2) 889..6209 fax