10082024 Board of Public Works meeting

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AGENDA REVIEW SESSION OCTOBER 3, 2024 211 The Agenda Review Session of the Board of Public Works was convened at 10:30 a.m. on October 3, 2024, by Board President Elizabeth A. Maradik, Vice President Joseph Molnar, and Board Members Gary Gilot, Murray Miller, Briana Micou, and Board Attorney Michael Schmidt present. The Board of Public Works Clerk, Theresa Heffner, presented the Board with a proposed agenda of items presented by the public and by City Staff. AGENDA REVIEW SESSION ACTION ITEM DECLARATION OF EMERGENCY - EMERGENCY DEMOLITION OF 747-749 HARRISON AVE. PROJECT NO. 124-062 — (RIVER WEST DA TIF) Attorney Michael Schmidt advised that under the unsafe building law, there is a process for determining if a demolition order is appropriate, so the building has gone through that process. The unsafe building law has some references to the requirement to publicly bid the demolition. It doesn't really follow this process under Public Works; the statute just says publicly bid. It can be inferred because the statute for public bidding is under the public works statute. For this process he noted that the Board is being asked to affirm the emergency demolition, not affirm the contract. It has been affirmed that this has successfully gone through the code enforcement process and there has been a demolition order placed on this property. We are going to recognize for Public Works that there is an emergency order to demolish this building. Mr. Miller asked how the bid process will work. Attorney Schmidt noted that under the public works statute, we will follow the emergency process, so they will solicit two (2) vendors for the work. Not knowing what the dollar amount will be, it will probably be over the quoting threshold, but we do not know that for sure and we will bring it back to the Board once we know. The consultant expert has advised that this building could fall at any time. Neighborhood Services and Enforcement has declared the building unsafe under the unsafe building law. It does not make any sense to get specs, advertise, bid, and mobilize as we could be getting into the winter months. We have an emergency, and we need to act, but we want to be sure that we are following the statutory process here. One of those steps is to get an emergency declaration from court. He advised that possibly by Tuesday, they would come back to the Board with a dollar amount and a vendor. Mr. Gilot asked if some of the architectural elements could be stored and reused on another project. VP Molnar noted that Community Investment has done that in some cases, but the difference is that we do not own the building. Also, we are still storing material we have collected over the years, so we do not have much space. Upon a motion made by VP Molnar, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried by roll call, the declaration of emergency was approved. LICENSES AND PERMITS — BACK TO SCHOOL PICNIC - OCTOBER 4, 2024, 3 PM TO 8 PM; HOWARD STREET BETWEEN ST. LOUIS BLVD. AND ST. PETER STREET President Maradik noted that this event was for the following day, so she moved it to an action item at the meeting to get it approved before the event. Upon a motion made by VP Molnar, seconded by Mr. Miller and carried by roll call, the street closure for the special event was approved. Board members discussed the following item(s) from the agenda. AGREEMENT/CONTRACTS/PROPOSALS/ADDENDA Barbara Dale of Sustainability was present to answer questions regarding item 9. C.: Professional Services Agreement with the Troyer Group for Design & Engineering Support for Three (3) City of South Bend Urban Tree Nurseries. She noted that the Troyer Group would help Sustainability look at their growing systems as they are currently at Elbel, and potentially do an updated, more efficient system. They will also look at the Orange and College retention basin across from the MLK Center and the Half Moon in Ignition Park. She added that she will be doing an environmental assessment design of the system to help us figure out how to schedule out the sequence of events to make this happen by spring. Mr. Gilot asked if the sites would work in curb cuts to move the trees in and out each spring and fall, deal with drainage issues, and include site amenities such as pavilions and benches.