Okay, this is the Thursday, April 23rd, 2026 meeting of the Board of Public Works.

And I'm gonna make a call to order.

Kevin Riley present.

Joe Piper.

Eileen McLitz.

And seeing we do not have anybody here for public comment.

Uh what happened to our um allegiance?

Yeah, what our pledge of allegiance isn't there.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

Pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

And to Republican for which it stands one nation.

Under MATA indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

That threw me.

That was things were out of order.

You can tell Judy's on vacation.

Keeping you on your toes, Kevin.

So the next order of business is the approval of minutes from April 9th, 2026.

Do we have a motion?

Mrs.

Piper, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes.

A second.

We have a first and a second.

Any discussion or questions?

Seeing none.

Take a vote.

Kevin Rayleigh, aye.

Piper aye.

Mick Litz aye.

And moving on to approval of payments.

None of them are final payments, but uh you have any questions on those, Brandon, or I'll try to answer.

This is Piper.

I'll make a motion to approve payments with a second.

I have a question.

Kevin Riley seconds.

Can guys can you remind me or remind us what we're doing with the South Street ramp this year?

Is this more of the joint stuff than so this was actually the yeah, it was bid out last year.

It was a 25 project that continued on into the spring of this year into 26.

But yes, it was primarily um we had some beam repair, some other concrete repair items kind of on the vertical on multiple floors.

I guess Joe, you can jump in whenever you want to.

Um, but really concrete structure structural repairs on the lower floors, and we worked our way up some of the exposed beams, some of the we had some spalling, some rebar exposure that we you know cleaned up, did full repair there, and are kind of working our way up towards the top floor.

Plus, we did previously approve that change order to remove the glass block on the top story, replace that with concrete block, and replace some of the windows up there on the on the top floor as well.

Okay, that's Brandon.

Thank you.

And I that's what I was driving as.

I thought we were gonna knock out some of that old barn glass there towards the top.

And that is all complete, yes.

Yeah, so if you're interested, drive up to the third floor, it looks a lot nicer.

So this is the third floor on South Street or the third floor on Wisconsin side.

Probably it's the entire like on the top floor where we had glass block.

So there was a couple different locations up there that that was replaced with concrete block.

Go take a look.

All right, thank you, gentlemen.

And the windows and the doors that were replaced were replaced with I forget what it's called, Joe, but uh indestructible glass.

Yeah, uh all the glass was replaced with Lexon.

It's a relatively cheap, high impact resistant polymer.

Uh seeing discussion is finished, we can have a uh vote on approval payments.

Kevin Riley, aye, Piper I.

Micklitz aye.

Moving on to bids.

Right.

Uh there's three bids to review this evening.

Uh the first one uh was received on April 10th.

This is for the Fire Station 5 HVAC improvements project, the rebid.

Um we received uh three bids on there.

The low bid came in from Helm Mechanical, uh total bid of 42,107.

Um as you can see, the budget amount is somewhat amended there to be 43,000 uh with the allocation of about $8,000 uh that the administrator and uh finance director has approved to transfer those funds.

Uh Piper, I'll make a motion to approve the bid with a second.

I have a question.

A second.

So um I know helm equipment.

They're helm mechanical, they're a little bit further south.

I think they're they're based out of like Southern Illinois or Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin.

Have they done work for the city in the past?

They have done work for the city.

Joe, do you remember which I'm not sure which one off hands?

Yeah, and we did definitely check references with their pre-qualification as well, and their references did check out.

Okay.

And it looks like I mean, I mean the discrepancy between first and second was still like 16 grand.

So we wouldn't recommend moving forward with the second low bid at this time.

They've uh performed okay in the past, and they did get uh okay reference is in the reference check.

So and uh I'm no have no doubt.

I mean, I know I know Helm from my family knows Helm and worked with them.

So I guess my other question is is this just furnace?

Is it just one furnace or is it?

Yeah, if you recall the reason we didn't hold the bid or not approve uh the last round of bidding due to the amount was uh the refrigerant of the one that we're replacing in this the furnace number three was the older style refrigerant, so we did move to move forward with that piece of the of the project work instead of the other condensers that will be a future project.

So that's how we decided to break it apart.

Great.

Thanks, Brandon.

And I think you answered my question, Brandon, about why this was a rebid.

The first bid we were kind of came into high.

We was waiting, it was well over budget.

Uh so we did have to repackage that into smaller pieces to be within the 2026 budget and delay the remainder of the project entirety into a future year.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Uh then I'll enter.

We have already had a first and a second, so I believe we can go to a vote.

Kevin Rayleigh, hi.

Piper aye.

Nick, let's aye.

Moving on to the next bid.

Uh the next bid was uh received um the same day.

This is the West Sunset Drive and Barcel Bridge Ceiling Rehabilitation Project.

Um we did receive two bids.

Uh we recommend moving forward with NORCON Corporation's bid uh for both the base bid and alternate one and two in the total amount of 255,585.50 cents.

NORCON has completed this project in the past.

Um, and the budget amount is 300,000.

This is Piper, I'll make a motion to approve the bid as presented.

I'll second that.

The first and a second, any questions or comments?

Seeing none, we can move to a vote.

Kevin Rayleigh votes aye.

Piper aye.

Motion passes three to zero.

Moving on to the next bid.

Uh, the next bid, uh, we're gonna put this on hold.

Uh we need to uh talk to the finance director.

It came in slightly over budget.

So uh we do have funds available in another project.

We just need confirmation uh from admin and finance director on transferring those funds.

So bring that back next time.

Just uh point of information.

Can I ask a question?

Yes, how close were we to the 277,000 dollars over budget on a one million dollar project?

So this is replacing uh two pump stations.

So uh the majority of the work um involves replacing generators and controls and and things like that in in new buildings, so it's a substantial amount of uh mechanical and uh pumps and that type of equipment.

So uh we got a good bid, uh, but we just need to confirm we can transfer some funds around.

So thank you for explaining that, Alex.

Yep.

Any other questions or comments before we move on to the next uh item?

See none.

Okay.

On to discussion and recommendation to council regarding So letter A there.

It's review and act on contract changer in a moment number one with Lee Mechanical for the library HVAC placement project.

Turn this over to Brandon and uh Joe to uh report on.

So I'll just give a brief overview of little bits of this change order, and then uh Joe Welter, our facilities and construction manager is also here to answer any questions uh that you may have regarding this change order, but um this project was an HVAC improvement project at the library.

A big piece of this project, not only was it replacing HVAC mechanicals, but a big element of that was automated building control.

Previously, with the multiple iterations of projects that we've had at the library, there was an HVAC system that had three different types of control uh across the board.

It was uh we'll call it a hodgepodge system, so to speak, that was pieced together on multiple projects, and this project was going to be executed to really clean up all of those elements, have a one automated building control system, a BAS that really takes care of every everything and will give us better management of that facility from an HVAC perspective moving forward.

Once we got into the project, some of the locations of the duct work and the pieces didn't line up with the plans that we had, and it did cause us some additional elements of work.

There was four additional items that we did have the contractor do additional work at the request of the city.

Um related to dampers, relief hoods, um, tying in the park bathroom that also is connected to the library, as well as uh ceiling temperature monitoring control panels.

So it was an additional expense, a lot of it building control related.

Uh the amount total of this change order is just over $30,000.

Uh, if you do have really specific items on each one of these four additional elements of work, uh Joe is definitely going to be the best one to provide some explanation on really fine details of that.

Entertain a motion.

Um I've got some questions first.

Sure.

Okay.

Thank you.

Um, gentlemen, thank you.

So I guess I'm gonna work my way up from the bottom.

So number four.

So there is this.

I guess my question is I know we we talked a lot about this is the old Carnegie space, right?

And we talked a lot about having to put sensors above the ceiling for fire and everything else.

I guess I'm just curious, and it's I know it's 1400 bucks, but I'm just curious.

What was I mean?

We spent so much time on that.

Why I'm just curious what was missed, or what why are we why are we having to spend another 1400 when we just did that like two years ago?

For that for that location on number four.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so the the space above the the old Carnegie area, there is exposed piping, there's um sprinkler piping, hydronic piping up there.

Um this cost is to provide additional monitoring up there.

So it's an older building, sometimes it's temperature sensitive a little bit more outside.

So we want to be able to monitor that.

We want to be able to control that above ceiling space to ensure that all the mechanicals up there are taken care of and and not bursting pipes and causing damage.

Yeah, and I Joe, I and I know this was before your time, and as you guys know, this isn't directed at you individually, this is directed at the building.

Um I just was because I know we talked about that when we did this when we did the Carnegie room remodel about all of the sensors and everything up there.

Was it just something the technology change?

Was it just something that that the that we missed?

Or did we realize that we just didn't we didn't have enough sensors up there given the first scope?

Yeah, I think with the with the building automation system change, um, having additional sensors up there provides us a little a higher level of control in that space.

So um it provides for monitoring, it provides for alerts if it does fall out of um temperature scale for us.

So some of it is kind of that behind the scenes work where staff is getting notified when things are out of whack.

Um, and it's it goes continually monitored so we can actually pull it up on the computer, understand exactly where we're at, and not have to just trust the equipment.

Okay.

And then number three, the park bathrooms.

So those were that project was done four, three, four years ago.

Yeah, three, four years ago.

The addition, the additional bathrooms.

Yeah.

So I'm gonna I'm again my I guess my question is was this something that was just that was discovered that we we needed to we needed to do this work, or why was I guess my other question is why wasn't this in the original scope of work when we put the bathrooms in?

Uh this is this is something we discovered throughout the project.

It's it's not ducted the way that we would expect it to work.

So the library or the the park bathrooms are supported by the library mechanical system.

The way it's set up right now, there's a transfer fan in the conference room that is blowing essentially taking exhaust air from the conference rooms and blowing it into the bathrooms.

There are unit heaters in each of the bathrooms that should be maintaining temperature in the bathrooms, but they never run because that transfer fan is constantly dumping tempered air into the space.

So we're not running efficiently right now.

The cabinet unit heaters that are in the bathrooms, which are designed to heat and temper the bathrooms, should be the primary source of heat.

Right now they're not being utilized because we're constantly pushing exhaust air out of the conference rooms into the bathrooms.

So is it so Joe?

Is it more efficient to use those kind of those electric heaters than it is to try to just continuously blow warm air in to normal duct work?

Absolutely.

Okay.

Okay.

And I I just as we all know, love the library, just very challenged by the physical building.

So thank you, gentlemen.

Joe, thanks for coming tonight.

You bet.

I'll make a motion to approve the change order as presented.

I'll second.

We have a first and a second.

Any additional questions or discussion before we move on?

Seeing none, Kevin Riley votes aye.

Piper aye.

Michael that's aye.

Motion passes.

And we are up to the matter of a report.

Um no real report, no extra report tonight.

Uh just have uh the uh official notices, Greenway Terrace Playground Resilient Surface Project, uh, Prairie Park and Banting Park Facilities Upgrade Project, and the Sanitary Sewer Lining Project for the year.

So those projects are being prepared and going off for bid.

And Kevin, before we before we adjourn, I just wanted to take this opportunity to welcome um Alder Person Micklitz to the Board of Public Works, and also um just acknowledge uh Alderman Eric Payne and his probably over 20 years of service on the Board of Public Works as an alderman.

So Eric's not here this night here this evening with us, uh, but I wanted to take this opportunity to publicly thank Eric for his time, not only as an alderman, but also his time on the board of public works and on the transit commission.

We 100% uh appreciate his service to the board of public works.

Absolutely that doesn't require a vote, but I will wholeheartedly second both of those motions.

I do have one thing that I'd like to uh just ask uh the Lomayra, I mean not Lomayra, the prospect avenue construction.

Yep.

My guess is that the it got a bit slowed down because of weather, but do we are we still on track for that?

Schedule wise, we're still looking good.

There were some more than expected poor soils encountered on prospect during the uh removal of the existing pavements on that stretch that slowed them down a little bit.

Obviously, we had a week of a lot of rain.

That also didn't help.

Um, but schedule wise, we're still looking good.

We will start removals of sidewalk on bidwell very, very soon, as Jonathan has put out a couple updates uh today uh with that schedule.

So they are plugging away and plowing forward um as far as contract time will definitely be on schedule regarding that project, but still in the target where they wanted to be complete ahead of schedule.

So I'll be able to get out of my driveway in the next three weeks.

Yes, okay, that is the goal.

The underground contractor out there, I feel did a fantastic job getting that completed uh in a real quick manner.

So moving forward with the road project.

It's totally understandable with the weather, but yeah.

Uh any other comments or things before we cl adjourn?

We are adjourned.

All right.

Thank you.

Thank you.