07082025 Board of Public Works Meeting Minutes

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REGULAR MEETING JULY 8, 2025 146 Name Date Amount of Claim City of South Bend Claims GBLN-011005 06/17/2025 $2,625,183.60 City of South Bend Claims GBLN-0110500; GBLN-0110505 06/24/2025 $2,378,952.17 Each claim is fully supported by an invoice; the person receiving the goods or services has approved the claims; and the claims have been filed with the City Fiscal Officer and certified for accuracy. Therefore, upon a motion by VP Molnar, seconded by Mr. Miller, and carried by roll call, the Board ratified the preapproved claims payments. PRIVILEGE OF THE FLOOR Board President Liz Maradik introduced Hillary Horvath as the new clerk for the Board of Public Works and thanked Ms. Theresa Heffiier for her service to the Board as clerk for the last several years. Vice President Joe Molnar thanked Ms. Horvath for updating the agendas to contain the Board members' appointment date and term lengths in order to be compliant with the new state law. Mr. Gilot asked Ms. Horvath to look back at supporting documents to confirm his appointment date as he thought he was appointed to the Board earlier than 2012. Board member Murray Miller asked if there was any conclusion to the issue with the contractor who was awarded for the VPA Leeper Tennis Courts Reconstruction Project. He noted at the Prebid meeting they did not supply the list of MWBE contacts. Board attorney Michael Schmidt replied that as far as he knew, they had worked with the contractor to make sure they identified their MWBE contacts to meet the goals. He added there had been continuous discussions on how to address the City's MWBE program plan in order to more broadly articulate what good -faith waivers could be and what responsibilities might be on contractors who are bidding on projects in order to effectively meet goals or qualify for the good -faith waivers. He clarified that making changes to one (1) section effects multiple sections, so it is prudent what gets done doesn't have any negative effects elsewhere that ends up undermining the overall ordinance. He emphasized that their goal is to maintain participation and make the environment flexible for contractors trying to meet the participation goals, however, there is a lot of areas that are affected by others being tweaked. He noted the Inclusive Procurement and Contracting Board must be involved too, so it isn't just an executive decision. Attorney Schmidt stated when the Board awarded the Leeper Tennis project, one (1) of the unique factors that was taken into consideration by the City on this approach was the fact that we were dealing with outside contractors from outside of Indiana and we wanted to try and create an environment that was sympathetic to those who don't typically do work in our region and to be supportive of their efforts to meet our MWBE goals when they don't know how to, but we also need to be cognizant of wanting to give our local contractors who might not be able to meet a goal for a particular project had some flexibility as well. Sometimes it is difficult to bid a project and secure the engagement of a sub -contractor in the short time to advertise and when the bid needs to be submitted. He emphasized the importance of recognizing all the moving parts without undermining the MWBE ordinance of the City. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Board, President Maradik adjourned the meeting at 9:53 a.m. CITY OF SOUTH BEND, INDIANA BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS 1*4�'k � ffL Elizabeth A. Maradik, President Gary A. Gilot, Member Joseph R. Molnar, Vice President WHE Breana Micou, Member Murray L. Miller, Member Attest: Madeline Hostetler, Acting Clerk Date: July 22, 2025