From: Jennifer Cline
Sent: Fri Aug 14 17:41:59 2015
To: Dan Huff
Cc: Heather Penni
Subject: RE: Talk
Importance: Normal
The Contractor was not off on the estimate. The additional change order expenditures were to address unforeseen unstable subgrade issues on Stowers Road primarily. Unstable subgrade issues had to be addressed on Grange Ave and E Heintz Street but to a lesser degree. In addition, the contractor uncovered a bridge that was unknown to the City and was not shown in any of the City’s as-builts.
I don't know how much you want say about the design issues.
· No geotechnical analysis was performed to anticipate the unstable subgrade.
· The design cross slope on Stowers was increased causing addition impacts and expenses to match into existing driveways.
· Pavement repair on E Heintz St was not addressed and quantities for Grange were under estimate. In the construction, the additional pavement failure was identified. To address the additional pavement failure and contract time frame constraint, the City chose to remove all pavement by grinding, stabilize the unstable subgrade and pave to ensure a 20 year life cycle.
· The existing asbestos concrete (very brittle material) water line in Stowers was overlooked on the As-builts during the design phase. A change order was processed to replace with PVC a standard water line pipe used today.
Overall Project Cost: $920,157 – I would verify this with Heather, I thought it came in higher.
Awarded Contract: $671,356
Change Order for water: $161,135
Overages & Change Orders for Unstable Subgrade and unforeseen buried obstructions: $87,666 (calculated from Overall Project Cost)
Let me know if you need anything else.
Jennifer Cline, P.E. | Public Works Director
Licensed in OR, WA
City of Molalla
117 N Molalla Ave. | PO Box 248 P |Molalla, OR 97038
O: 503.759.0218 | F: 503.829.3676
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Huff [mailto:dhuff@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 10:19 AM
To: Jennifer Cline <jcline@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: FW: Talk
Can you help me answer his question ?
-----Original Message-----
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 10:09 AM
Subject: RE: Talk
I miss you guys too much.
No, I'm working from home this morning because after cleaning up Peggy's mess yesterday I ran out of time to report on the city council meeting.
How far off was the contractor on his estimate? How much money? What is the name of the contractor. Is it ODOT or a private company hired by ODOT?
Daniel
________________________________________
From: Dan Huff [dhuff@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:55 AM
To: Daniel Pearson
Subject: RE: Talk
Daniel - The "surprises" were multiple throughout each roadway we were working on as part of the project. To be exact would require a bit more work on our part to find the exact locations. However, just to give you a few examples - old concrete bridge abutment in N. Molalla Avenue, multiple locations of over excavation due to unsuitable base material under existing streets, storm drainage failures and disconnects, etc.
Shouldn’t you be getting out of the office?
-----Original Message-----
From: Heather Penni [mailto:hpenni@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:42 AM
Cc: Dan Huff <dhuff@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: RE: Talk
Dan - Please answer this for Daniel
Daniel - I know it was the Grange/Stowers/Heintz project. The exact location of the surprises in the street I am not 100% on. Please ask Dan.
-----Original Message-----
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:39 AM
Subject: RE: Talk
Sorry, it got buried below somehow ...
What is the name of the street where
the problems occurred? Actually, what block was it on or between? I'm still not familiar with all of the street names in Molalla ...
Daniel
________________________________________
From: Heather Penni [hpenni@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:38 AM
To: Daniel Pearson
Subject: RE: Talk
Daniel
Did you mean to send this to me??
There are no new questions that I can see - am I missing something?
Heather
-----Original Message-----
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 9:35 AM
Subject: RE: Talk
________________________________________
From: Heather Penni [hpenni@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 4:50 PM
To: Daniel Pearson
Subject: RE: Talk
Responses below ☺
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com [mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 4:20 PM
Subject: RE: Talk
Sure:
· You said the capital improvement project on grange (sp) st. going
over budget was a reportable offense. What happened and what does that mean?
Municipal governments (cities) are not allowed to deficit spend. So the independent audit team must note in their findings that for the specific appropriation we spent more than we allocated. The fund is not in a financial pinch – it is an administrative ding. Usually cities will submit a supplemental budget that is noticed to the public so they can comment and then money from contingency is allocated to cover the overage. This was a unique situation as it all came into play around June 15th (right before fiscal year end) and we did not have enough time to meet the requirements for a notice of public hearing which is required for a supplemental budget
before the year ended. The reportable offense means a comment in our
financials that we deficit spent and didn’t correct the allocation before a fiscal year closed. I want to be very clear – the overall fund did not deficit spend and still has a positive balance. This is very different than years past. In the funds the expenditures have categories (personnel service, material & services, capital projects) and we went over budget in one category.
This is ultimately a good thing – as it identified a process that needs to be adjusted and will help us improve our internal controls.
· There was a second project that was a reportable offense. What was
it, what happened? The second was a new fund – the utility deposit trust fund. This is a brand new fund that houses the deposits. The deposits are always refundable to the customer – just when it refunds is a variable. We need to look at how we budget for this fund to make sure we don’t spend more than is allocated and we allocate enough to cover the need. Process tweak is all.
· What did you guys realize when the street was opened? What were
the issues with “engineers out of our hands?” What we realized when the streets was opened were deficient utility components that had not been identified based on records (historic records before they were required to provide more detailed as-builts) ie: the bridge abutment at Molalla Avenue.
In addition, the base material under the existing roads was far less than favorable than originally anticipated which in part of the engineering resulting in additional excavation requirements. In addition, the engineer made some errors in the original quote that was not identified until we were too far into the project to adjust.
· You were talking about something that went right over my head. It
had to do with Tier II employees going from 10.68% to 14.47%, and another type of employee (what is the name? Op-surp it sounded like you said) PERS has been restructured by the State a couple of times. Each time a re-structure happens the existing employees in that group maintain those benefit levels and a line in the sand is drawn and then everyone hired after that date is a new group with the modified rules. So PERS has right now three groups depending on your hire date Tier 1, Tier 2, or OPSRP (Or Tier 3). There is talk of a Tier 4 but I think it’s only talk right now. Lots of Tier 1’s are retired. Tier 2’s were hired between Jan 1996 to Aug 2003.
OPSRP is after 2003 hire date. Each tier has a different percentage amount that the employer is responsible for and it is adjusted on a yearly or bi-annual basis depending on what the actuaries at PERS think. The percentage increase was anticipated for FY 16/17 – with a small one for this year. The one for this year was more than anticipated but still within the margins we were prepared for. PERS has a great website – tons of information!!!
· What was the PERS(sp)?? Legislation you guys were discussing?
This is more a Jimmy Thompson question – he has a weird quirk and likes to read house bills. PERS has a few house bills on the floor some with little impact and some with quite a bit like a potential Tier 4.
I think that’s it.
Daniel
I promise this is my final question. What is the name of the street where the problems occurred? What block was it on?
Daniel
From: Heather Penni [mailto:hpenni@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 4:13 PM
To: Daniel Pearson
<dpearson@canbyherald.com<mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com>>
Subject: RE: Talk
Can you email me your questions?
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com<mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com>
[mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 4:10 PM
To: hpenni@cityofmolalla.com<mailto:hpenni@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: RE: Talk
I’m going to have to work on this some in the morning. I’ll call you then, unless you get this in the next 30 minutes.
You can reach me on my cell, too, at 503-367-5273.
Daniel
From: Heather Penni [mailto:hpenni@cityofmolalla.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 10:17 AM
To: Daniel Pearson
<dpearson@canbyherald.com<mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com>>
Subject: RE: Talk
Yes – also email is great too!
From: dpearson@canbyherald.com<mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com>
[mailto:dpearson@canbyherald.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 10:16 AM
To: hpenni@cityofmolalla.com<mailto:hpenni@cityofmolalla.com>
Subject: Talk
Heather:
I have a copy of the DVD from last night. If I need something clarified I will call you today, but I want to make sure I have the facts correct before we go to print, so if there is any way you can make yourself available for a
3-5 minute phone conversation today it would really help.
Thanks,
Daniel Pearson
Reporter – Canby Herald/Molalla Pioneer
241 N. Grant St.
Canby, OR 97013
503-266-6831