Request Council Approval to Solicit Bids for Salt Shed and Quotes for Additional Equipment for the New Public Works Facility

Purpose:
The purpose of this case is to seek council authorization to solicit bids for a new salt storage building, and quotes for a fork lift and floor sweeper for the new PW facility.
Background:
Included in the original design proposal was a line item to relocate the existing salt shed to the new site. Once design of the facility started, it appeared that the budget would not allow, so the relocation was put on hold.  Because of the favorable bidding climate and relatively minor corrections needed during construction, the contingency balance on the new PW Facility as of today is $1.2 million.

Andrew-Cooper the lead architect on our project, met on site with a representative from Calhoun Buildings to inspect our current salt shed to see if it could be disassembled and moved to the new site.  The Cover All structure brand, which is our current salt building, went out of business due to under-engineered structural failures within their buildings.  Part of their ensuing settlement was reinforcement performed by a third party, of their existing structures, including the Ramsey structure.  That was only reinforcement and it rendered the existing structure(s) only serviceable in-place.  Moving or resale required a wholly separate re-engineering of the structure. During the inspection of our existing structure with a local building representative (who at the time of the reinforcements worked for the company that performed the corrections), they observed the enhanced supports on the lower chord of the roof truss, as well as larger bracing between the trusses that made this building viable in place, but not relocatable.

N/A

20 minutes
The estimated cost of a new structure is five to six-hundred thousand dollars, including design, site work and foundation. Oretel Architects would do the design work and their design services proposal is attached to the case.  The salt shed would be purchased through Sourcewell, which is a cooperative purchasing organization, similar to the Minnesota State Cooperative Purchase Venture. The City of Ramsey is currently members of both organizations. 

Greater efficiency in operations would be achieved by having the salt shed near the loading equipment and trucks. Noticeable travel time would be saved at the beginning of a plowing operation moving trucks and equipment if a salt shed is provided at the new  PW site. If the salt shed is not relocated, travel time would be increased when the on-call person is called in to salt intersections at night, by themselves, as they would have to move both the truck and the loader to the site.  Another possibility to consider is if this property were to sell in the future, the removal and construction schedule for the salt shed would have to done in phases.  The old shed could not be removed until the new shed was built and the material was transported to the new site.  The current salt shed would be re-purposed  to cover other bulk materials used by PW, such as black dirt, mulch and ag lime, until such time that the land was sold for development.  

The other two pieces of equipment we are seeking to get proposals on are a used propane powered  fork lift and a new sweeper/floor scrubber.  The PW facility was designed with ample mezzanine storage, but we currently do not have a forklift in equipment inventory.  The second piece of equipment needed is a combination sweeper/scrubber.  We can use our large street sweepers to do the bulk of the sweeping in the warm storage areas, but we need a more compact unit to clean under the mezzanines and in the work shops.  This unit could also be used in the parking ramp for spot clean ups by the building maintenance staff.  The sweeper/scrubber would also be purchased through Sourcewell or the Minnesota CPV.   The used fork lift can be purchased through quotes from local dealers, which Ramsey has two.  Cost for the sweeper/scrubber is estimated at $52,000-$58,000, while the used forklift is estimated at $14,000-$18,000.
 

PW Facility 9438-6520 Project #20-07 

Staff recommendation is to accept the attached Oertel Architects design services proposal and solicit bids through Sourcewell for a new salt building approximately 80'x100' in size to be located on the east side of the new Public Works Facility.

Staff also recommends the soliciting quotes for  a sweeper/scrubber for the New PW Facility through Sourcewell or The Minnesota CPV.  All purchases would be brought back to the council for final approval to purchase.

Motion to council to direct staff to accept the attached Oertel Architects design services proposal, and to solicit bids for a salt shed, and quotes for a sweeper/scrubber and used fork lift for the New PW Facility, that will be brought back to the council for final purchase approval..