Borough Facilities Committee
December 7, 2007
8:30 AM; Borough Hall
Members: Borough Manager, Gary Webb; Police Chief Robert Tovo; Former Fire Chief Doug McWilliams; Councilwoman Ellen Emr; Councilman Stephen Shaw; Councilman Richard Urankar (chair), Board of Education Member Mark Cohen; Planning Board Member Joan Nix; Historic Preservation Committee member Pat Rusak
Absent: Stephen Shaw, Doug McWilliams and Mark Cohen
The only guest was resident Fred Kanter
The purpose of this Facilities Committee meeting was to review the draft of the “Report to Council” and approve both the form and content. Richard distributed a draft and discussion ensued. Recommended changes were approved by consensus and then incorporated into the report. The Report’s final version is posted on the Borough’s Web Site and therefore not attached to these minutes.
Mark Cohen was unable to attend in person but called in and voiced several opinions that were broadcast by the speaker phone in the meeting room. In his opinion, if the Borough hires professionals to move the project forward, the Needs Analysis should be done by the same professional doing the design work. This was the same method followed by the Board of Education when constructing the new High School and allowed for an “Architect of Record.” This allowed the Board to receive favorable pricing and the Architect worked with the building committee. Mark added that the Architect provided options that the public wanted to see and that the process went relatively quickly.
Pat Rusak was a member of the Board of Education’s building committee and remembers the process as described by Mark, and added that she thought the interface between the building committee and the architect was crucial. She noted several examples of where mistakes were avoided, ideas improved, or money saved as a result of the building committee’s close involvement. She recommended that our report recommend a subcommittee be formed from our membership to interface with any professionals hired in the future.
The Committee discussed the future of our Committee and if we should continue if the project moves forward. This point was debated and the opinion of the majority of the Committee was included in the report.
The Committee agreed unanimously that we would recommend the Borough hire professionals with specific expertise in municipal government’s operational space needs to review our work and make specific recommendations on how to meet the documented need. This would require a writing an RFP (Request for Proposal) and the Committee discussed if this would be a function of the Committee, if the Council decided to move the project forward. The Committee decided to recommend that it be our responsibility and noted that the RFP would need to identify the scope, the client, the budget, the timeframe and evaluate the findings of the Committee. These opinions were included in the report.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Fred Kanter offered several ideas and opinions. He questioned the Committee’s grasp of the situation and the related facts, and also our attitude. Mr. Kanter said that he thinks we have the “cart before the horse” and that we need more time to “get it right.” Commenting on the Committee discussion regarding existing space available and requested space needs, Mr. Kanter suggested that we didn’t know what we were talking about and therefore lacked the credibility to make a recommendation. He asked us to stop acting like we know what we’re doing, to stop thinking about a specific building size, location or design, and that no “Red Herring” exists. Furthermore, Mr. Kanter stated that there were other options that haven’t been fully considered, like conducting a feasibility study of putting new space at the Borough DPW yard. Commenting on the Needs Analysis completed by this Committee and providing the foundation for the report and recommendation, Mr. Kanter asked “what if the numbers are wrong?” In his opinion the standards used are questionable and there are too many discrepancies to move forward without resolving those discrepancies first. Mr. Kanter concluded his remarks by sharing with the Committee a motto from his company, which is, “Do it once and do it right!”
The chair thanked Mr. Kanter for his comments, ideas and concerns.
Richard was going to redraft the Report and have it available for Committee member review by noon Monday; December 10th. The Committee agree to meet at that time at Borough Hall to have a final review of the “Report to Council,” make any needed changes and give it final approval. All members of the Committee would try to attend the Council meeting when the report is presented and agreed that Richard would present the report as chair.
Finally, the Committee agreed to include in the Report a specific request for Council to pass a motion accepting the findings of the Committee and approving the actions recommended in the Report.
It was noted that scheduling future Facilities Committee meetings would depend upon the decisions made by the Borough Council after reading the Report. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 AM
File Name: BC.Facilities.Minutes.12.07.07