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Home My WebLink About09/29/1945 Board of Public Works Special Meeting Minutes218 September 24, 1945 A regular meeting of the Board of Public Works was held on Monday, September 24, 19 at 9:00 A.M. All memebers were present. Minutes of the last meeting were read and approved. Salary claims in the amount of $8.350,58 were approved and ordered paid. Clai of the following suppliers in the amount of 63,693,.08 were approved and ordered paid: Business Systems 11.07 E. R. Newland Company 25.57 Indiana Bell Telephone 93.94 The Ohio Oil Company 27.18 J. C. Lauber Co. 4,95 Schilling's Inc. 1.80 Lloyd Insurance Company 5.00 Schilling's Inca 1.34 Building Dept. (Trans.( 105.00 C. Balka (Trans.) 12.50 E. Miller (Trans.) 20,00 River Park Lumber Company 6.47 Hoffman Bros. 99.65 Standard Gil Company 430.83 Hoffman Bros. 68.35 Standard Oil Company 11716.25 Indiana Bell Telephone 7.50 Standard Oil Company 865.10 Ind. & Mich. Elec. Co., 1.00 Studebaker Corp. 56.20 K-Hill Signal Co. 128.25 Studebaker Corp. 5.33 TRAFFIC DEPARTMENT: Mr. Ernest Miller, Traffic Engineer, was present and matters per- taining to his department were discussed. ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT: A Contractor's bond in the amount of $1,000.00 was approved for William H. Outman and was ordered filed. An application for a parking lot at 1001 South Michigan Street was received and approved by the Board. Th4 Board approved the vacation of the first alley North of Randolph Street from Marine Street to the East line of the alley West of Marine Street, but advertising the resolution was held up pending the receipt of the sum of money necessary to pay for the advertising. STREET DEPARTMENT; Mr. Casimer Balka, Street Commissioner, was present and matters pertaining to his department were discussed. Mr. Balka presented the following amounts of money to the Board: $15.00 for flush- ing a house tap and $5.00 for the equipment; $500.00 for the sale of a Sullivan Air Com- pressor #60; $6.00 for rental of a roller and $175,00 for rental of the sewer machine. CEMETERY DEPARTMENT: Mr, Stanley Leszczynski, Sexton, was present and matters pertain- ing to his department were discussed. There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 A.M. A.T T :L , Q Clerk7 l —=D QF PUB=t`YftJrRMi i i SPEC IAL MEETING ii A special meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety was held on Saturday, September 29, 1945 at 9:30 A.11. All members were present. The Board of Public Works and Safety met for consideration of problems involveed in connection with the employment of engineers to prepare preliminary reports, final plans and specifications, and to supervise the construction of a sewage treatment sys- tem, together with necessary appurtenances, for the city. The members indicated that h. they were familiar with a unanimous report concerning the employement of engineering services for this project and made by a special non -partisan committee appointed to consider municipal problems and consisting of the following: Jesse I. Pavey, Vice - President, South Bend Lumber Company; Harold Vance, Chairman of the Board of the Stude- baker Corporation; Clyde Stephenson, President, St. Joseph Industrial Union Council; A. E. Klinger, President, South Bend Supply Company, Chairman of South Bend's Civic Economic Committee; Granville Keller, Vice -President, Whitcomb and Keller; M. P. Ferguson, Vice -President, Bendix Products Division; E. M. Morris, Presdent, Associates Investment Company; Valentine Gadacz, Secretary -Treasurer, Sobieski Federal Savings Loan Associatiox M. A. Zahoran, Funeral Director, President Southwest Property Gwner's Association; and Henry Lowenstine, Manager, Greene's Inc., The members of the Board then indicated that they had received on September. 26, 1945 a letter from Mayor Dempsey enclosing a joint bid made by Charles W. Cole & Son and William S. Moore, Engineers, for such engineering work. The members then indicated that they had received, under date of September 25, 1941.51 a membrandum addressed to the Board and signed by the City Clerk indicating that the Common Council had moved that a certain ordinance to transfer Fifteen Thousand ($15,000.00) Dollars from budgetary Account No. B 262 to the General Fund had been held in "council in order to give local engineering firms an opportunity to submit plans and specifications on the sewage dis- posal system.' s • 0 r1 • • • • [above, The Committee members indicated that out of deference to the wishes of the Common Council i had re-examined the report made by the special committee, whose names are set.forth and that the Board had examined the material and data submitted by all engineering firms to that special committee, including all of the information and data submitted by Charles W. Cole & Son and William S. Moore, then acting independently. The members of th Board also indicated that they had read and studied a letter dated September 28, 194t addressed to the Board and signed by Charles W. Cole, Sr., acting for Charles W. Cole Son, and William S. Moore, containing certain information submitted at the request of the Board which had asked for any data which might be considered in accordance with the desire expressed in the memorandum from the .Common Council. Having examined the data, the Board concluded that all matters of substantial value contained in the letter of September 28, 19450 had already been submitted to and considered by the special committee referred to earlier in these minutes, and also by the members of the Board of Public 'Mork lin their previous studies of the matter. The Board then discussed the basis upon which engineering services for the accomplishment Hof the construction of a sewage disposal systems should be selected, and it was the un- animous feeling of the members that where local services equal to those which could other wise be obtained were available, then local services should be given preference. In the case before the Board it was felt both on the basis of indpendent study made by the Board of Public iVorks and Safety, and on the basis of the research and investigation made • by the non -partisan committee, referred to above, and upon which their report was based, that the firm of Consoer, Townsend & Assoccates were the best qualified to perform the services required by the City of South Bend. In reaching this conclusion the following excerpt from the report of the non -partisan committee was carefully re -read by the members II"This engineering firm has been actively engaged in engineering work for the past 26 years, during which time, it has handled i municipal engineering work of a value in excess of $150,000,000.00. The organization consists of 30 men, who have been carefully selected and trained through years of active service. The firm recommended j has been extremely active in the field of sewers, and sewage treat- ment, and the work under this contract will be under the personal direction of Mr. Darwin W. Townsend. j "Mr. Townsend was associated with the Milwaukee Sewerage Commission for 22 years, in the successive capacities of engineer of design, Assistant Chief Engineer, Active Chief Engineer, and Consulting Engineer. In these various capacities he was afforded the evniable li opportunity of prominently participating in activated sludge process research and development, sewage treatment plant design, plant construction and operation, and the development of the j� process for converting sewage sludge into a commercial fertilizer product. In addition to this work. ' he served -in associate consulting capacity on other large projects, notibly those at Cleveland, Qhio; Wards Island, New York City, Chicago Sanitary • �� District, and the project for the Minneapolis -St. Paul, Sanitary District. "The firm of Consoer, Townsend and Associates have contracts i for the engineering of similar plans at Elkhart, Indiana;. Benton Harbor .and St. Joseph Michigan. it is felt that an advantage can be gained by the City of South Bend for their work on similar projects along the some river which which we are concerned. j' "It is the unanimous recommendation of the committee that in the proposed contract the engineer fee for plans and specifications, should not exceed 3% of the cost of the project, and that the supervision fees should not exceed 2% of the cost of the project. These fees submitted by the above firm are not in excess of the fees proposed by any other firm of engineers. i "It is the unanimous recommendation of the committee that the I' contract for such engineers, as well a§ the engineers work itself, II begin at the earliest possible moment." The Board, having given consideration as aforesaid to all matters relating to the obtain g of engineering services for the purpose of preparing plans and specifications for the construction of a sewage disposal systems and its supervision, undertook consideration of a contract wrnich had been prepared. Thereafter, the Board decides that the firm of Consoer, Townsend and Associates be noti- fied, and that a representative of that firm, authorized to negotiate and execute a contract, be asked to appear before the Board at the earliest possible time, at which time an additional special meeting would be called. There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was aujourned atl2:-- o'clock P.;1�. ATT T: • Cler