Round Rock City Council Meeting Summary - September 10, 2024
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Round Rock City Council Meeting - September 10, 2024
The Round Rock City Council met on September 10, 2024, to review capital projects, interlocal agreements, and public safety programs. Staff presented updates on a downtown elevator replacement, the Bob Bennett Complex construction manager selection, a transit agreement with CapMetro, multiple roadway and utility projects, and a budget update highlighting the Crisis Response Unit.
Discussion Items
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Elevator Replacement (Bacchus Elevator): Staff requested approval of $145,000 to replace an elevator at the parking garage, citing a 30-week lead time and 5–6 week installation. Staff will coordinate with Rick to minimize disruption. Council asked about programming longer door delays for handicapped access; staff agreed to review current delay settings.
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Bob Bennett Complex Phase 2/3/4 – Construction Manager at Risk: Staff recommended selecting Hensel Phelps as CMAR, after a close competition with Adolfson & Peterson. The fee is 3.25% with $25,000 pre-construction costs and a $425,000 initial contract. The project is estimated at five years. Hensel Phelps will work alongside Jacobs (architect/engineer). Council questioned the fee formula and the CMAR role; staff explained the competitive bidding process for subcontractors.
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CapMetro Interlocal Agreement & Federal Funds: Staff presented a memorandum of understanding for direct receipt of federal funds and recommended a one-year extension of the fixed/commuter route services agreement. Council Member Brian requested ridership statistics for the Thursday meeting.
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Chisholm Trail South Project (Sandbass Road to Sunset Drive): Staff recommended using a Competitive Sealed Proposal (CSP) to select a contractor, allowing flexibility on cost, timeline, and experience. A council member expressed hope that the Sunset Drive intersection and pedestrian crossing would receive careful consideration. Staff noted ADA ramp improvements, stamped concrete, and coordination with businesses to avoid the Christmas season.
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County Road 112 Improvements: Staff reported the low bid of $13,119,712.35 from Dan Williams Company for converting two lanes to six divided lanes from AW Grimes to east of CR 117. The engineer's estimate was nearly $20 million; staff attributed the gap to conservative estimating and noted a tight bid band (highest bid $14.9 million) with 10 bidders.
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Kenny Fort Boulevard 4C Change Order: Staff presented a change order with Jordan Foster totaling approximately $300,000 due to an engineer's calculation error on excavation/embankment, plus smaller items like riprap and signal adjustments. Council asked about mediation; staff clarified the cost would have been incurred regardless and is not being recovered from the engineer.
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Gaddis School Road – Google Fiber Reimbursement: Staff requested approval of a reimbursement agreement with Google for installing conduit/ground boxes in the right-of-way, estimated at $172,000.
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Gaddis School Road Segment 6 – Right-of-Way Purchases: Two purchases were discussed: (1) 2,788 sq ft from Mark Applause LLC for $229,835; (2) 0.297 acre at Gaddis/High Country for $23,512. A council member requested a map showing all Gaddis School segments.
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Austin Underground Water Line Relocation: Staff recommended a $3.3 million contract to relocate a 30-inch raw water line near DB Wood Road, required by TxDOT's turn lane project. Six-month construction. Council discussed why older lines were placed in right-of-way; staff explained modern practice requires easements.
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Wastewater Line Upsizing (SH-45): Staff proposed a $270,000 engineering contract with Cobb Finley to upsize a wastewater line using developer-impact fees. Work will be bored under SH-45 with no road disruption.
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Round Rock West Rehab: Staff recommended a $3.8 million contract with Royal Vista for infrastructure improvements (water, wastewater, storm, roads) in Round Rock West; engineer's estimate was $4.4 million.
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Regional Wastewater Plant Lift Station: Staff requested $650,000 with Zone Industries for one new 375 HP pump and repair of two existing pumps. Round Rock's share is ~60%; partner cities share the rest.
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Bulk Flocculant Polymer Supply: Staff recommended a five-year, $1.25 million contract with Solinus LLC for chemicals used in wastewater treatment; costs allocated annually based on flow.
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CAMPO Technical Advisory Committee Appointments: Staff recommended appointing Brian Kuhn as primary and Gerald Polmar as alternate; Council also recognized Gary Hutter's service.
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Budget Update & Crisis Response Unit (CRU): Fire department staff presented on the CRU, stating it improves service for mental health crises, reduces police calls for service, and allows officers to handle priority calls. The presentation was part of the budget discussion scheduled for Thursday night.
Key Outcomes
- Council discussed all items and asked clarifying questions; no formal vote was recorded in the provided transcript.
- Several items are scheduled for formal action on Thursday night, including the Hensel Phelps CMAR contract and the budget update.
- Staff committed to providing County Road / Gaddis segment maps, ridership statistics, and elevator door delay adjustments.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning, Mayor Council. This is a standard uh elevator replacement. Um lead time is beat one of our 16 elevators that were replacing. It's time to replace the Bacchus elevator. Um it's about a 30-week lead time to get the elevator in. Um so we want to excuse me, be proactive and get it in as soon as possible. And then once it's in, we'll work with Rick on how you know what the what the best time is for uh actually replacing it, because it'll take probably five to six weeks once we do that as well. 145,000 dollars, be happy to answer any questions. Uh how many is it for uh people have used? What are we doing? What do we know? Yes, ma'am. That's what we'll get with Rick and we'll figure out what is the best time, how are we going to do it and figure that part out? Um we have we have not done that. We definitely, because of the 30-week lead time, this puts us into the first or second quarter of next year. So we definitely wanted to get it going this year, and then we'll work with them for programming and make sure there's no minimal interruptions as possible. It could be that we're parking a lot of people on the street. Could be that we have a temporary of something put in place as well. Yes, ma'am. So this is in the garage, not the right. It is coming up from the garage straight up to the backup where it is. So if you park underneath, it will affect everybody that's parking underneath. Um but we'll we'll mitigate that. No, there's more hand cap parking outside. Yeah, okay. Program those doors to have a longer delay on and off. We s we certainly can. I honestly don't know what the delay is right now. Um have you experienced uh shorter delay there or an issue or anything? I just know. I'll be honest, I never use that elevator, so I really need to get down there and use it. I don't park down there. We certainly certainly can, sir. We can do it like I know the hospitals have a longer delay period where it's almost like too long when you're thinking about it, but we can we can definitely program that in. Yeah. Um are we feeling pretty good about uh significant referred maintenance at that center or any roof and stuff like that? It's almost as good as it would be. I absolutely believe so, yeah, 100%. It's it's it's low on our uh responses that we have right now. If there was one building that is high, it's this building we're in right now. That's probably our number one pain problem this year. So we're going to urge the end of the file construction as a construction. Mayor Council, as you know, you've awarded the uh uh Bob Bennett complex phase two, three, and four. We've already awarded that to Jacobs. Um pending pending the approval on Thursday night. We like to bring uh Hensel Phelps on as a construction manager at risk. Um with five other uh good GCs out there. It was a tight race. It actually came down to Hansel Phelps and Adolph and Peterson. Super tight race came down to the interview.
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