City Board Meeting - January 29, 2026: Phase Three Project Updates and Resolutions
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City Board Meeting - January 29, 2026: Phase Three Project Updates and Resolutions
Meeting held on January 29, 2026. Program manager Joe provided updates on the comprehensive plan phase three, engineering services, construction management RFP, Project Labor Agreement (PLA), and the 2025 annual report. Two resolutions were approved unanimously.
Discussion Items
- Comprehensive Plan Phase Three: Submitted to the Office of State Comptroller and the New York State Education Department. Comments received and responded to; staff anticipate final approval soon, which would allow contracts for architect/engineers and design to begin in spring.
- Engineering Services: Letters of intent sent to two firms; bond, insurance, and utilization plan submissions pending. Contracts expected in February after board authorization and comprehensive plan approval.
- Construction Management Services RFP: Updated for phase three, similar to phase two process. RFP to be advertised the following week; an RFP committee will be formed with board and staff members.
- Project Labor Agreement (PLA): Von Schrank and King retained as PLA counsel; Tim Sealer (engineer) engaged for cost studies, as done in phases one and two. PLA anticipated to be presented to the board in February.
- Annual Report for 2025: Completed and filed for board review and comment.
- Draft Feasibility Study: Final version expected within the next week after addressing last comments.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution #1 of 2026: Payment resolution for invoices received – approved unanimously with no objections or abstentions.
- Resolution #2 of 2026: Authorized issuance of the construction management services RFP – approved unanimously with no objections or abstentions.
- Next Steps: Board to review the annual report; comprehensive plan approval pending; contracts for architect/engineers targeted for February; CM RFP proposals anticipated by early March with award in second quarter.
The meeting adjourned after brief discussion, with the chair noting that future meetings will become busier as phase three progresses.
Meeting Transcript
I know I've mentioned it a couple of times, but we're really at the point where we're just making some last minute edits. So the plan is to present it to the board ahead of the February meeting, so you've got time to check it out, and then we can discuss it at that meeting and see how we want to proceed. Likewise, the comprehensive plan of phase three, which is required by the statute, is has been submitted as you may recall to the Office of State Comptroller and the New York State Education Department. They came back with uh comments and questions, and uh staff and the program manager have responded. And uh I believe we're very close to getting final approval on those on that document, which would allow us to uh approve contracts for the architect engineers and begin the design of phase three projects in the spring. Wow. And uh finally, uh, we you'll have you see at later on the agenda, we have a proposed request for proposals for construction management firms. Uh this uh document is very similar to how we did it in phase two. It's been updated to reflect the phase three needs, and uh with your approval today, that will be advertised next week. And then the division of purchase will reach out to you, mayor, to set an RFP committee. So we'll have a committee of the uh the board and some staff as we did with the architect RFPs previously. Sounds great. That completes my report. Report has to be approved. Uh no, it's just a common update. But thank you for for asking. Uh report of the program manager. Um this month we've got a copy of last year's annual report in the packet. Um then the comprehensive plan. I think I'm sorry. Um it's a the document that documents. And and also I uh that reminded me, I failed to mention in my report the uh the annual report for twenty twenty-five that was completed as is filed in for your review and comment if thank you. And for anybody that doesn't know me, I'm shocking for Turner. Uh comprehensive plan, as Joe mentioned, um, they did come back with some comments. We responded to those. Um earlier this month, they came back with a further clarification that did go back to them earlier this week. So hopefully, we're real close with getting that approval. Uh comp troler, we did get comments from them. Response went back to them earlier this month. Hopefully, we get uh approval shortly here from them as well. Umgineering services. We did um send out the letter of intents to two firms. Uh they've been working on their bonds and insurance and utilization plan submissions upon approval of those and approval of the comprehensive plan and um the board's authorization where we would then enter into contracts with them. We're anticipating in February. Uh as far as the CM services, as Joe mentioned, we're going out to bid with um the RFP starting next week. But anticipate by early March we have the proposals in hand, and then we'll look to award um second quarter. Uh continue to meet with SED on a monthly basis, which is good. And PLA, we anticipate having that to the board probably next month in February. Any questions? Just with regard to the PLA. Um I think this might go to Joe. Who who is actually in those discussions? So we we have um Von Schrank and King retained as our PLA counsel as they did in phase one and phase two. And uh then we have a consultant. Um at the moment. Tim Sealer, thank you. Tim Sealer, who's okay, in the engineer who specializes in PLA cost studies. Okay. He also did the PLA cost study for phase one and phase two. Okay.
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