04-09-18 Public Works and Property Vacation

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CITY OF SOUTH BEND I OFFICE OF THE CLERK it, components of this allow for them to not have to resubmit every year. They can prequalify and submit the first time, and then be good for the year. Of course there are some components that will always have to be submitted as part of a unique project. Councilmember Dr. David Varner stated, About a decade ago,the State redid the bidding process and it created three (3) classifications. I believe those were skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled. Does this, in anyway, introduce a new classification or will we still recognize the State classification? The point I'm trying to make is any time you add regulation, you add cost. It is difficult in my mind to say this will reduce costs. Some of the things that struck me, particularly in regards to MBEs and WBEs,I think the$150,000 is way too low.That is remodeling a bathroom in the County-City Building. If you are really truly interested in MBE and WBE participation, I think you have to let these contractors grow and grow without being burdened into some of these larger positions. Is there an intention that there will be new classification standards other than the States? That would be an enormous impact on how you classify someone as qualified or not qualified. Mr.Horvath replied,A couple years back we had what's called Common Construction Wage Skills and those are no longer allowed in the State of Indiana. That was the wage paid in accordance with the skill. This is not putting that back in. The only thing we are asking for here is Certified Payroll so if you have a laborer,they have to report what they're making and how many hours they worked to make sure they are meeting all the labor requirements. I don't think it will change anything on the skilled or unskilled. It won't require anything but the Certified Payroll. Councilmember Dr. Varner followed up, We really need clarification on that. If people are going to be legitimate or not legitimate because they adhere to a separate classification system and someone else is indifferent, I think we need to clarify that. The elephant in the room is that there are merit shops as opposed to organized shops which operate on a system that the State adopted. If this in one(1)way,shape or form requires people to conform to a different classification system, it could have an effect. Dr. Mueller stated, It is not that these requirements are overly burdensome. Before when we had the Common Construction Wage, Certified Payrolls were a natural part of doing business with the City. If you look at apprenticeships, once you get to a certain size, even if you're a small business, we would hope you would be doing these types of practices anyway. Councilmember Dr. Varner asked, Who makes the charge of misclassification of employees. We've heard that around here for the last seven(7) or eight(8)years? This sounds like a nice idea but I don't want anyone to be excluded if they don't want to conform to these new requirements. And when you increase responsibilities and regulations on businesses, you increase costs. That is almost without question. That is my point. I think this may impact these businesses. What I would like to see would be for us to be so successful that we don't really care who gets the job because everybody is busy. With the stuff going on at Notre Dame,it is a great time to be in the construction business. I remain concerned that as nicely packaged as this has been, it will lead to unintended and unexpected consequences. Dr. Mueller stated, That is something we can monitor and over time we will address those issues. EXCELLENCE I ACCOUNTABILITY I INNOVATION I INCLUSION I EMPOWERMENT 455 County-City Building 1227W Jefferson Bvld I South Bend,Indiana 466011 p 574.235.9221 l f574.235.9173 j TTD 574.235.5567 www.southbendin.gov 4