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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPRDA MINUTES 2005-05-19 r► MINUTES OF THE 168th REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLYMOUTH ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF THE CITY OF LIVONIA The 168th Regular Meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority of the City of Livonia, Michigan was called to order at 3:00 p.m., Thursday, May 19, 2005, in the 4th floor conference room of City Hall. Members Present: Jack Engebretson,Mayor John Walsh, Chairman Wes Graff,Vice Chairman Scott Grace John Hiltz Toni Mette Greg Meyer Lowell Peterson Jerry Wordhouse Members Absent: Stan Anderson(excused) Dennis Kujawa(excused) Marvin Walkon(excused) (le Others Present: John J.Nagy, PRDA Director Michael Slater, Finance Director Jeff Bryant, Economic Development Director Steve Levesque, Commercial Mowing Services Ben Baker,Beckett&Raeder Jason Faron, Holophane Carl Sesta,Farmer Jack Pete Pfeiffer, Ashley Capital Sharane Hedges,Ashley Capital Robert Auth, Citizen Marge Watson, Secretary 1. Roll was called. A quorum was present 2. Adoption of the 167th Regular Meeting Minutes. On a motion made by Peterson, supported by Wordhouse, and unanimously adopted, it was #2005-15 RESOLVED, that the Minutes of the 167th Regular Meeting, held on April 21, 2005, by the Plymouth Road Development Authority are hereby approved. blare Mr. Walsh, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 1 3. Finance Report: The Financial Statements of the Authority's Special Revenue Fund for the year ending April 30, 2005, were presented by Michael Slater, Finance Director. The Balance Sheet reflects total assets in the amount of$1,380,904.58, total liabilities in the amount of $523,286.70 and a total fund balance of $857,617.88. On a motion made by Hiltz, seconded by Graff, and unanimously adopted, it was #2005-16 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby accept and approve the Financial Statements of the Authority's Special Revenue Fund for the month ending April 30, 2005. Mr. Walsh, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. 4. Plymouth Road Tech Center/A&P Traffic Signal Invoice: Sharane Hedges, Ashley Capital, addressed the timing and general operations of the traffic signal installed at the Plymouth Road Tech Center just west of Harrison Street. The signal will be on an 80-second cycle between 6:00 p.m. and midnight. It will flash yellow from midnight to 6:00 a.m. From 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., it will be on a 90-second cycle. It will be synchronized with the Harrison Street signal. Ms. Mette confirmed that the light is functional, and based on her observations, she anticipates no problem with its operation. Mr. Nagy inquired if the light will satisfy A&P's traffic control needs, and Mr. Carl Sesta replied in the affirmative. Jeff Bryant, Economic Development Director, requested the PRDA to approve a partial reimbursement of the cost to Ashley Capital to fulfill the commitment made by the previous City administration in the amount of$120,000.00, which represents only a portion of the total expense incurred for the traffic signal. Mr. Grace stated that the Board had come to a consensus that they would do so but would prefer that the reimbursement take place over a two-year period. Mr. Bryant felt that Ashley Capital would agree to that arrangement. Mr. Slater stated that the entire $120,000.00 will be reflected on this year's financial statements, regardless of when it is actually paid out. On a motion made by Peterson, seconded by Grace, and unanimously adopted, it was #2005-17 RESOLVED, that the Plymouth Road Development Authority does hereby authorize reimbursement to Ashley Capital for a portion of the cost for the installation of a traffic signal at the Plymouth Road Tech Center in an amount not to exceed $120,000.00 over a two-year period, with $60,000 to be reimbursed in Fiscal Year 2005 and the remaining $60,000.00 to be reimbursed in Fiscal Year 2006. Mr. Walsh, Chairman, declared the motion is carried and the foregoing resolution adopted. (10, 6. Beckett & Raeder: (1) Benjamin Baker, representative from Beckett & Raeder, stated that Phase 5 is still open and will be closed out at the end of summer. Phase 2 6 is complete with the exception of the fence issue. Mr. Baker is in communication with the contractor and he will keep the Board apprised of any progress. (2) Mr. Baker has spoken with Bob Weeks, the brick supplier, in an effort to resolve the issue of the brick chalking and will be meeting with him next week. The company that supplied the face brick is now out of business. (3) Mr. Baker submitted plans to correct the drainage problems in front of the property owned by Richard George, located at 30835 Plymouth Road. It is estimated that the cost will be $4,000. Mr. Wordhouse suggested that the work be performed without delay and that the contractor and Beckett & Raeder should absorb the cost for the repair since the problem resulted from their original design and the work they performed on behalf of the PRDA. Mr. Baker agreed to present the issue to his company's management. (4) The Construction Committee did meet with representatives from Holophane regarding the rusting and peeling light poles installed along Plymouth Road. Jason Faron, representative from Holophane, distributed a letter addressed to him from Steve Delawder, Manager Field Service/Quality Assurance, Holophane, dated May 19, 2005, regarding rusting poles, banner arms retaining water and ball finials falling off. The following discussion took place. Grace: It was my understanding as a result of the Construction Committee Cie Meeting that Holophane was to come up with a solution to be presented at today's meeting. Faron: I want all the poles sanded, primed and repainted. Seaway Paint has provided Holophane with a fairly high estimate of what it will cost to repair the 398 poles. Holophane's upper management wants to inspect 100 percent of the poles to make sure they all need to be repainted. They don't want to write a check carte blanche to Seaway to paint poles that don't need it. I am asking the Board for a two- week window to allow time for management to come from Texas to inspect the poles as they would be footing the bill for the repairs. At that point, they will make a determination as to how to resolve the problem. Mette: All the poles definitely need to be repainted. Hiltz: Even if some of the poles look fine today, the rusting problem may surface at a later date since they were all manufactured at the same time. If all the poles had been treated with the same process, and the process has failed, why would you think that another inspection would warrant a difference of opinion? Faron: There were two processes. The process done in 2001 was more of a bandaid approach to the problem. It was just spot repair. We are now proposing a more comprehensive approach. 3 Wordhouse: I'm talking about the original manufacturing process, not the temporary painting done earlier. The original manufacturing process was obviously deficient, and the poles out there appear to be from the same batch resulting in the poor quality we see today. That being the case, it's a matter of time before even the replacement poles will fail as well. Faron: Sure. Actually, that process, from my research, was done from 1999 to 2001. As I said before, I'm kind of coming into this at the last second here. I don't know if we had any phases after 2001. Actually, we extended the warranty. The extended warranty was technically expired; however, it doesn't make good business practice not to back the product. Mette Being out of warranty doesn't make any sense because we brought the issue up during the warranty period, and the poles were not repaired to our satisfaction. Faron: Absolutely. Mette So when you bring a warranty issue up and you have a problem that you are discussing during the warranty period and there is no satisfactory solution, the term of the warranty period is extended accordingly. Faron: Sure. Mette: Just because your end takes longer to get back with us, and now it's out of warranty,that's really not officially how it should work. Faron: I understand 100 percent. We were aware of the fact that you were experiencing problems. Even if it was out of warranty, it still doesn't make sense for us to have these poles in the condition that they're in. I know Plymouth Road is the centerpiece of Livonia, and we want to make sure that it's right. Wordhouse: So you agree that we notified you within the warranty period? Faron: It was probably made before I was here. Baker: Jason wouldn't be able to comment on that; we have to rely on the paper trail. Jason: I have a file probably about five inches thick that I've gone through a couple times, and I want to be able to find that extended warranty - when we were notified. I'm sure it was within the warranty period but I can't say yes or no for sure. 4 Nagy: The other problem we discussed were the finials coming off and retaining water. Can you tack weld the new finials to the arms when the poles are being repaired? Jason: Yes, absolutely. Nagy: The other issue was the aluminum or cast aluminum bases which is a different product than the poles and the flaking of the paint. Can you discuss that with us? Will we get new ones? Jason: What I mean by repainting the pole, I mean repainting the pole shaft and the two-piece clamp on base. I don't think Seaway primes cast aluminum. I'm not quite sure on the specifics of that. I know the steel shaft will be sanded, primed and then painted. I can get you information on the process for the base. I don't know. Walsh: So who is coming to make the inspection? Feron: Two gentlemen, Traverse Jones and Robert Best, and perhaps Robert Gonzalez, who has already been up here They are senior people at the manufacturing level who wanted to personally inspect the rusting problem of the light poles. Hiltz: What I remember from the Construction Committee meeting, the plan was that these issues would be assessed by Holophane and Beckett & Raeder. Then you were to present a recommendation as to what Holophane proposed to do to correct the problems, and the PRDA Construction Committee would review that for suitability. That was to have been done prior to the l9th in preparation for a presentation here. To come today and say that you want another few weeks to go out there and inspect these poles, it's just continuing to drag this thing out. What I'm not hearing is a solution. All of the issues that were raised are being addressed again. You identified that there's two different couplings on each pole. The problem is that we're losing banners and that damage is being done to the banners by the one coupling. You're identifying that there's two couplings. What are you doing to fix that problem? Feron: Do you mean the coupling for the banner arm? Hiltz: That's what I understand. John, is that what is causing the damage to our banners? Nagy: The set screw sometimes comes lose and sticks out and it cuts the hem on the bottom of the sleeve that goes over the arm. That causes the banner to tear and that's why we think the solution is to have the 5 finial welded to the bracket arm when they are repairing the poles Cif and do away with the set screws altogether. Feron: I think we replaced some of these arms. Steel versus aluminum is a problem. We have a new design, which is the cotter pin style. All the banner arms you're using now have the cotter pin type. Nagy: To the best of my knowledge,they are. Mette: John brings up a very good point. We did hear the gentleman that was with you say that he was going to have answers for us at this meeting. I know you aren't the one that said that to be fair to you, but he committed to us that he would have all the answers at this meeting. I'm hoping you'll relay to him that we really want an answer. Feron: I actually did call him prior to coming in here, and I said, you know, it looks like we're backpedaling on this. We made a commitment. We should have some solutions. It doesn't look good. I have to go into this meeting with my tail between my legs. But you have my word, and it is in my interest as well as everyone else here that we fix this issue with the paint being the most important. I have requested our people from the plant, who would be responsible for Lie footing this bill with Seaway, to come here within two weeks to inspect all the poles. Mette: What paint did you mention at the Construction Committee meeting? Baker: Emron paint. That's usually what we spec. Feron: I'm not familiar with Emron. I do apologize for not having the solutions here, but we are making strides in the right direction. We just need a couple more weeks to get our people up here to fix the problem and quantify it. We all know it's probably going to be 100 percent of the poles. Wordhouse: To Mr. Baker, will Becket & Raeder likely support a partial painting of the poles or a complete paint job on all the poles? Is there any chance you're going to feel comfortable recommending to this Board that partial painting is going to be reasonable? Baker: The onus will be on Holophane to convince me not to repaint 100 percent of the poles. At this point, I will not accept anything less than 100 percent. Coi Wordhouse: I would recommend that Beckett & Raeder separate their costs on this particular item from the other work that they are doing for us 6 Baker: We are doing that. Wordhouse: From the day we put the Holophane poles in, they have been a real problem for this Board, and Holophane has not once been a part of the solution. We've had them in here constantly going over engineering issues and structural issues. As far as I'm concerned, anything less than 100 percent repainting with the proper method will not be acceptable. It's time to get the job done right once and for all. Hiltz I would like a schedule to accompany the recommendations. Nagy: The Construction Committee will meet to discuss the solution to be proposed by Holophane, and the Committee will make a recommendation to the full board at the next meeting 7. Committee Reports: Public Relations: Ms. Mette reported that the Spring Newsletter has been printed and includes the Plymouth Road Taste Fest promotion cards and articles on several renovations along Plymouth Road. Construction Committee: (1) Ms. Mette reported that the traffic signal at the Plymouth Road Tech Center is functional and working well. (2) A cable company ruptured the water main in front of Media Play and reconstruction of the damaged area is underway. The cost of the repair work will be reimbursed to the PRDA by the cable company. (3) Commercial Mowing's mulch work around the trees is looking good. 8. Directors Report: Mr. Nagy stated that he has sent a letter to Greg Davis Landscaping, dated May 18, 2005, requesting the replacement of 15 dead trees along Plymouth Road, which are covered under the warranty. 9. Polling of Members: (a) Lowell Peterson would like the welcome sign at Inkster Road repaired/repainted; Mr. Baker stated that the cost is being put together. (b) Jeff Bryant stated that there are several business expansions taking place in the district; namely, Exhibit Works, Wabasto and Impact Printing. (c) Toni Mette expressed her appreciation to Mayor Engebretson for her reappointment to the Board. Adjournment: On a motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the 168th Regular Meeting held by the Plymouth Road Development Authority on May 19, 2005, was adjourned at 4:25 p.m. The next meeting of the Plymouth Road Development Authority will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2005. (t)Ae Marge W son, Secretary 7