11-30-10 Common Council Meeting Minutes

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SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 30, 2010 outside investment group where the value is greater than what they paid into this investment. He urged the Council not to make this project attractive to an outside firm and lose this great investment in this community. th Gary Gilot, Director, Public Works, 13 Floor County-City Building, 227 W. Jefferson Blvd., South Bend, Indiana, advised the Council that if they have driven past the Cove, there is some work in progress. This is work that is being done with monies appropriated from the prior year. There were some safety things that needed to get started. They replaced the pads on the outfield wall for player safety. He stated that they may have noticed the new net, it used to be dangerous for people in the stands if balls went foul, so now they have a net that opens up the view of the game better, but provides for fan safety. The restrooms were a good design that came from the architect and were pretty extravagant and more than they could afford, but they worked with the Silverhawks, the Community Development Staff and worked with the Wightman Pietre & Associates and value engineered down the restrooms. He stated that you don’t see the Taghmahall, you see blacked out paint where a ceiling was once designed to go in order to economize. Lighting, we are building this building for sustainability, they had to redo the lighting because there was a problem as Mr.Nussbaum mentioned earlier in the left field area regarding lighting and the lack of a lighting stanchion and there being a dark area. Mr. Gilot stated that they are putting more post around and a different combination of lights the poles are somewhat lower, but the key thing for sustainability is that they will use half the energy and they were purchased with a twenty-five year warranty and this is a system that will serve the community well for a long time without risk of excessive energy bills or maintenance costs. There was a sewage lift station and they could not wait, so they took care of the pumps there. He stated that they are doing some work on the left and right field wall that is essential to avoid doing re-work and wasting money. Mr. Gilot stated that the initial plan was over 30 million dollars that HOK put together. He stated that they worked a lot with Wightman Pietre, the Silverhawks, Community Development Staff, and the Engineering Staff to value engineer that down to the 10 million dollar plan. Mr. Gilot stated that he realizes that is still a lot of money, but there has been serious efforts to whittle this down to get a very good value for this proposition. In addition, he wanted to reiterate what Mayor Luecke stated that they are getting very good prices. The State of Indiana complies bid tabs prior to the stimulus work in South Bend and other cities within the State have used those bid tabs (actual units of prices observed) times the quantities and plans what they are going to do with stimulus money, South Bend, St. Joseph County all around the city, and the numbers came in actual bids, 30 percent below the engineer’s estimate that were based on those tabs of the prior years experience. They were getting wonderful savings and value for our money now and that is why they should invest now. Mr. Gilot noted that it will preserve jobs, construction jobs that they have heard from the contractors working on the new TRANSPO facility that they would have had to close their doors if not for the public work keeping them going when the commercial and private side work had totally dried up. He responded to the comment on vision, he stated that they have had a vision in progress and that the Council showed a lot of leadership on and passed called City Plan. He stated that hundreds of people turned out for town hall meetings and they developed a vision for South Bend for 2025. There vision wasn’t for a bare bones city and the lowest tax rate to brag about, it was for a special city that was going to have quality of life for a live, play, work, shop, learn type of environment and things to be proud of. The staff is particularly proud when the Council gives the resources to get things done. He stated that they have started the job here and would love to be able to finish it and hoped that the Council would give them the resources to do that. The following individuals spoke in opposition to the bill: Szabo, Mishawaka Avenue, South Bend, Indiana, stated that he doesn’t envy the Council and trying to make a decision on this. He stated that the facts have gotten very confusing on what needs to be done and what they want to be done. He stated that there is one thing that they all can agree on and that is that the Cove is a civic asset and that we would be foolish not to sustain the viability of that asset. He stated that he is confused on what really needs to be done. He stated that the Park Superintendent stated that they have been doing the maintenance on the stadium and the Silverhawks Manger states that the place is 18