Tag: elevator

Some People Have a Hard Time Swallowing Truth Pills

Apparently someone is miffed I called out RKJ Construction for their elevator at the $1.5 million renovated Old City Hall building. They feel that just because they don’t like me using my First Amendment to voice my opinion that the City was hosed, they can accuse me of slander (it’s actually LIBEL if it is written, but it isn’t LIBEL if it is true or if it is opinion, ya dummy)

I am always METICULOUS about linking to my sources but I guess some people are too stupid or lazy to click on a link. So I will lay it all out right here – AGAIN – in a picture format more suitable for a lazy eight-year-old child to understand.

The City did NOT take the lowest bid for the elevator project. They took a bid FAR HIGHER to “keep it local”:

This is known as a FACT. Not libel.

The elevator ultimately (somehow) morphed from $119,532 into $128,400 – an increase of 7.4%:

$128,400 MINUS $96,605 = $31,795 difference in elevator prices….or about 33% HIGHER. This is known as a FACT. Not libel.

Finley said the elevator was holding up the Old City Hall project. It was supposed to be ready around March 2019. It wasn’t [link to minutes 3/25/19 page 4]:

MORE facts….not libel.

According to the September 17th, 2019 Dispatch (page 12), it STILL wasn’t complete in September:

September 17, 2019 quote in Lampasas Dispatch. Elevator NOT COMPLETED. FACT…not libel.

Since then, the elevator has broken down “about five times” in LESS THAN A YEAR. The Mayor HERSELF mentioned disappointment and unhappiness in the high cost and low quality of the elevator thus far. The City then moved to enter into a three-year, $16,920 maintenance contract:

Talbert may accept it as “normal” after asking “everybody”, but I don’t. I lived and worked in high rises for over 10 years of my life. I NEVER witnessed that frequency of breakdowns. A quick Google search confirms my suspicions. Not to mention, the elevator at Old City Hall is VERY LOW USAGE compared to the high rises I worked in (the Sears Tower in Chicago):

Given ALL of these above FACTS (not libel) I then gave my OPINION (also not libel) that if I was the City manager or on City council, I would NOT have immediately gone and wasted ANOTHER $17,000 on a maintenance contract. I would have FIRST gone to RKJ Construction with quite a bit of leverage on my side (we shelled out an extra $31,795 AND you were seven months LATE). I would have given them a chance to pay for the first two years of the maintenance contract (roughly $11,000). If they REFUSED to do this, I would have barred them from any future City contracts as punishment.

SO…explain to me where the “slander” is in this entire saga? Sometimes the truth is a bitter pill. But the sooner you swallow it, the better off you are, sweetheart.

It cracks me up that I am the ONE person in a town of 7,000 citizens who publicly calls attention to City government waste and even THAT is one too many, apparently.

RKJ Construction Kicks deGraffenreid In The Nuts One Last Time For Elevator

RKJ Construction – the company in charge of the overpriced elevator for the Old City Hall project – apparently kicked Finley in his nut sack one last time on their way out the door. Jamming the City for $128,400 on a project initially bid at $119,532.

A quick recap of the elevator debacle:

  • The City sends out the elevator contract for bids WAY back in November 2016. Austin elevator is the lowest bid at $96,605 but our idiot former City councilman “Greasy” Chris Harrison moves to go with RKJ Construction at $119,532 [page 6] to ‘keep it local’.
  • The next time the elevator is mentioned in the minutes, it has somehow morphed to $125,508 [Jan 2018]. I never saw an explanation for this.
  • The Old City Hall renovation is held up for MONTHS because of the elevator.
  • Old City Hall project FINALLY done in November/December 2019
  • RKJ bills City $128,400 for elevator – FAR MORE than originally agreed to.

You’d think RKJ Construction would give the City a small break on price after (1) getting their bid accepted despite it being $30,000 HIGHER than the lowest bid and (2) screwing up so badly and delaying their entire project for months on end. You would be wrong.

In a final act of humiliation for Spinley, the City was billed a grand total of $128,400 for the elevator. A full $8,800 (7.5%) OVER their initial accepted bid of $119,532.

What was even more odd was they broke it into TWO separate checks: LAST month, the City cut a check (#153218 page 41) for RKJ for exactly $100,000 for the elevator. I thought to myself “how nice! They actually gave them a huge break on the price for being so incompetent and holding up the project for months on end”.

WRONG!

THIS month, the city cut ANOTHER check (#153799 on page 51) to RKJ for the elevator in the amount of $28,400.

I realize that being ripped-off for $8,800 is very small potatoes compared to the hundreds of thousands the City wastes annually, but Christ Finley – grow some balls and demand a few concessions from the clowns who couldn’t even get the thing done on time in the first place! You are supposed to pay LESS for incompetent work….not MORE. Absolutely pathetic.

Wow! Factor Vanity Project Just Keeps Going, And Going, And Going….

The current delay for the $1.5 million Vanity Project? The elevator, of course! As I had speculated all along. This is the Energizer Bunny of construction projects, apparently. Let’s look at the string of missed deadlines for this disaster:

November 14, 2016: Finley “Spinley” deGraffenried brings bids to Council on elevator equipment and installation.  Bids were:

  1. Austin Elevator Co $96,605
  2. Trojan Elevator Co $206,909
  3. RKJ Construction $119,532

“Greasy” Chris Harrison moves to accept bid from RKJ – not the lowest bid – because “they are local and have done previous work for the city”.  Seconded by Mike White and passes unanimously.

August 13, 2018: Five days into a 120-day project, ASJ is already asking for another $10,800 for Old City Hall in Change Order #1.  Apparently a bathroom needed to be reconfigured, and “the price of metal went up” [LOL].  [You will notice that 115 days from August 13th would mean a finish date of around December 6th, 2018].

November 16th, 2018: Change order #3 for $16,417 and “City officials now hope the building will be ready for use in early 2019,” according to a Lampasas Dispatch article. [Nice and vague – another 3 month delay]

March 10, 2019: Finley assures City Council that the elevator for the City Hall Boondoggle would “arrive in mid-March” and take a week or two to install.

March 24, 2019: According to Finley and city council packets, “production for elevator equipment has been pushed back two to three weeks”. The arrival time is now “projected for the first or second week of April…and crews will take approximately two to three weeks to install.” [This implies a new finish date of approximately May 5th, 2019]

July 30th, 2019: FOUR MONTHS of minutes have showed ZERO further discussion of Old City Hall renovation and The Seven Goldfish seem to have forgotten it completely, as it never appears on Spinley’s reports or Council minutes/packets. I myself wondered out loud why it wasn’t finished yet, seeing as how the last supposed completion date was back on May 5th. I even publicly speculated it was probably the wildly overpriced elevator.

September 17th, 2019: Six weeks after my musings on why the hell the Vanity Project wasn’t done yet, The Dispatch states today that “although the City manager said he hesitates to predict exactly when the renovation project will conclude, he said the project is “very close” to completion. The City is also waiting on “final elevator adjustments”, whatever that means. Yeah, that’s the same elevator that Spinley assured us was going to be done in March…six months ago.

Just a reminder: City Council COULD have given the elevator bid to Austin Elevators for $96,000 but then-Council-genius Chris Harrison wanted to “keep it local” and give the contract to RKJ Construction for $126,000 (originally $119,000). How’s that working out for you?

Old City Hall STILL Not Complete???

I’m no detective, but the complete and utter lack of crowing about the new $1.5 million City Hall renovation and its nearly $100,000 A/V system for the last 4 months tells me this thing STILL isn’t done yet!

Remember back in mid-March when Finley informed us there would be a two-week delay on the elevator? That was a mere two weeks AFTER he told us it would be all done in a week or two.

Well, here we are FOUR MONTHS LATER…and I have STILL not seen any huge puff piece in the Lampasas Dispatch crowing about the $1.5 million dollar monstrosity. What’s the hold up? Is the elevator STILL not installed?

I find it impossible to believe that when this vanity project is done, Finley won’t invite the Lampasas Dispatch in for a photo shoot and make a BIG announcement for all of us peons to come to the next City Council meeting and grunt our approval. The wretched masses can “oooohhhh” and “ahhhhhh” and stroke the FOUR expensive 70-inch TV sets and the $5,000 DVR box like primitive monkeys stroking the giant black monolith in “2001 – A Space Odyssey“.

Yes, that is how I imagine they see us.

I mean, Monica Can’t-Wright even went out and bought 100 stackable chairs (four years ago) for this momentous occasion! This is the VERY DEFINITION of the community event Finley claims the $1.5 million debacle was built for! Yet we haven’t heard a peep in the newspaper and I haven’t seen a SINGLE mention in the council minutes – which I watch like a hawk.

I’m wondering if it has anything to do with the big pile of shit that has been sitting on the west side of the building for the last 6 months – which looks suspiciously like a disassembled $125,000 elevator to my untrained eyes.

As you may recall, former genius council member Chris Harrison thought the city should ignore the cheapest $96,000 bid for the elevator from Austin Elevators and instead go with the $125,000 elevator from RKJ Construction. He wanted to “keep it local” – which are apparently government code words for “get bent over and screwed hard”.

Again, this is all speculation on my part. If any of my usual City Hall birdies wish to chirp about this issue, you know where to find me.

Mayor Talbert City Hall Vanity Project Delayed Yet Again – Due to Overpriced Elevator

Wow. What a difference a week makes!

Just a 14 days ago, Finley assured City Council that the elevator for the City Hall Boondoggle would “arrive in mid-March” and take a week or two to install.

Not anymore.

NOW, according to Finley and city council packets, “production for elevator equipment has been pushed back two to three weeks”. Seriously?!?!? The arrival time is now “projected for the first or second week of April…and crews will take approximately two to three weeks to install.”

You will recall, back on November 14th, 2016…City Council approved an elevator bid from RKJ Construction for $119,532…and which later ballooned to over $125,000 – despite that fact that Austin Elevator bid $96,600 for the exact same job. Former city council genius Chris Harrison made a motion to accept the inflated elevator cost because “[RKJ] is local”

Let’s all take a moment to thank our stars that Harrison is a FORMER council member now.

Production?? WTF? Are they JUST NOW building an elevator for the Lampasas-Misty-Talbert-Finley-DeGraffenreid-“WOW Factor” $1,500,000 City Hall Boondoggle which has been in the works for years? How is that possible??

So, despite paying an extra $30,000 for an elevator to “keep it local”, and despite the fact it was bid on OVER TWO YEARS AGO, it is STILL not ready! What?? You’re telling me it is being specially constructed as we speak? Last I checked, an elevator is a simple box and was invented a century ago, at the least. What is the hold up? Once again – you can blame former genius Councilman Chris Harrison for this one – he made the motion to piss away an extra $30k for a local elevator – and council rubber-stamped it unanimously…as usual.

Just another delay and cost-overrun for the bloated and ridiculous City Hall “WOW Factor” renovation which is the centerpiece of the Talbert Administration. I’m seriously shocked she is running again after this debacle. I’d go hide my head in the sand, if I were her.

City Hall and Azbell – Part V (Azbell Appears Out of the Blue – 2017)

Some fireworks and big questions are unearthed in this chapter….just slog through a few uneventful entries first….

Jan 9, 2017: Staff held initial meeting with Byron Hendrix, Hendrix Consulting Engineers.  Hendrix met with City staff, reviewed plans and toured the facility.  He said “his firm was capable of providing anything from a ‘basic’ set of plans to a more complex and thorough design”.  City staff was generally impressed with his firm and approach and was hopeful that a proposal could be considered by Council by Jan 23.

Jan 23, 2017:  deGraffenried presents Council a packet with the negotiated scope and fee for MEP services by Hendrix Consulting.  The scope includes design and clean-up of electric feeds for the entire building, performance specs for the fire sprinklers and alarm, complete MEP for second floor and partial MEP for first floor.  This will be a one-month project but would depend on plan specs by the architect.  Councilman Williams moves to award Hendrix the MEP contract for $16,500.  Seconded and carries unanimously.

Feb 13, 2017:  deGraffenried provides Council a hard copy of the Old City Hall plan set. City Staff reviews the architectural plans, including structural plans, on Jan 31 and provided comment to JNW.

Discussion included timeline of bidding that could take 30 to 60 days and preference to bid by division and have City oversee the project, which would be a savings to the City.  Talbert moves to authorize the project as presented…seconded and passed unanimously.

And here it finally is……

MARCH 13, 2017: Monica Wright explains to Council that the A/V system for Old City Hall will cover the main chamber area, executive session meeting room, and second meeting room.  Wright says City Staff has been working with Azbell Electronics on a concept and design for this project that will be brought to Council at a later date.  Chris Anelundi from Azbell is present for this meeting.  Finley also reviewed MEP for the project.

[WOW!!  Here it is…the very first mention of Azbell Electronics in the minutes going back 4.5 years.  On Aug 25, 2014, Monica presented three bids for the AV system and Azbell was NOT the winner.  The winner was Broadcast Works (who is still in business, by the way) and the price was $34,000.  From that point until this day, there has NEVER been a mention of Azbell having the contract or anything about a price change.  You can see EVERY post concerning the AV system for the last 4.5 years on this blog – starting with Part I of this series.]

So many questions!  WHY is Azbell involved right now and not Broadcast Works?  Who is the “City Staff” who have been working with Azbell, and why?  Finley? Monica?  Who authorized this?  When did it start?  There is STILL no mention of Azbell costing $100,000.00 so it must not have happened yet.   After reading through 1000 pages of minutes, I watched City Council get bids on EVERYTHING (even $12,780 for 100 stacking chairs) so why is Azbell appearing now?  If Azbell is a “buy board” company and other bids aren’t needed, then why did they get three bids the first time back in August of 2014?  Why doesn’t City Council ask these questions NOW in March of 2017?  I’d love to hear the answer – SOMEBODY has to know.

Furthermore, Monica and Finley keep yammering about “Azbell is a buyboard member so we don’t need other bids,” yet the LAST time they sent out bids for this very same job, Azbell was NOT the lowest bid and the bids varied wildly between $34,000 and $54,000 – so a competent person with an IQ over 90 should realize that since they weren’t the low bid last time, there is DEFINITELY a benefit to getting bids on this project, since it is quite likely Azbell’s bid would not be the lowest this time either.

March 27, 2017: Finley deGraffenreid reports that MEPs continue progress at Old City Hall.  The City is planning to run emergency/backup power to the project – specifically the elevator.  The city has also received the proposal for audio/visual equipment and is currently reviewing specs and scope of work.

June 12, 2017: Finley says the MEPs are 99% complete…that Bryan Ellis (building inspector) and Monica Wright are reviewing the plan set [what the hell does Monica have to do with this part??]  They are in the process of drafting bid packets for Old City Hall.

July 24, 2017: City staff met with engineers from Hendrix Consulting to review and make final changes to Old City Hall rehab plans.  Staff will finalize bidding documents in next few weeks with a construction start date of hopefully mid-September.

Sept 25, 2017: Finley says Old City Hall plans have been finalized…and they have received bids on phone cable installation, fiber relocation and audio/visual components [so where are the bids?].  He is putting RFPs together by division and hope to move into the building in 2018.

Oct 23, 2017: [This is unrelated, but…] applications are being received for the new Assistant City Manager position ($90,000 in salary and cost to taxpayer of $122,000 after including benefits and pension).  The city received FIFTY-FOUR RESUMES.  [I stand by my constant assertions that government salaries are TOO HIGH in Lampasas for MANY positions.  Clearly, there is a LOT of interest at that salary – ergo, it is far too generous].

Nov 27, 2017: Finley says the basement demolition is completed at Old City Hall.  Fire Marshall has been reviewing the space with fire suppression contractors to determine plans and pricing.  Space is available for Council to tour.

Dec 11, 2017: City staff will begin utility work to bring the fire suppression line, emergency power and wastewater line.  They have identified 13 different disciplines that will need to be bid and contracted including framing, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, finishes, insulation, drywall, plaster, data, flooring and millwork [OK – you will get bids on literally EVERYTHING except audio/visual???  Or does “data” cover that?  Seriously…it REALLY looks like the fix is already in for Azbell.  A/V is conspicuously left out of this list.  How about it, Finley??  To paraphrase an old Wendy’s commercial from the 1980s: WHERE’S THE BID?]

Jan 8, 2018: Finley wants to update Council in anticipation of bid awards…share comments…review estimates…review trades/specialties that will need to be procured soon.  Finley then gives some info out: $600,000 earmarked for this project…$86,348 already spend…bid docs prepared by staff.  Partial estimates to date:

  1. Fire suppression: $60,000
  2. Elevator $125,508 [Hmm…this was bid $119,000 on Nov 14, 2016.  Weird]
  3. Phone $3,300
  4. Fiber patch $4,210
  5. Audio/visual $82,759 [THERE IT IS! Where did this come from??  This is the first mention of a huge number that differs wildly from the Aug 2014 quote of $34,000 from another company altogether]

So we now have a number getting very close to the current [August 2018] $96,000 screw-job from Azbell.  Clearly, somebody has taken it upon his/herself to just pick Azbell and unilaterally squander a ridiculously huge amount of money.  We know it is ridiculous, because back in August 2014, Broadcast Works WAS AWARDED A BID FOR A/V for $34,000…City Council at the time VOTED ON IT!!!

Again…I ask Finley and Monica: how was this decided??  Why was this not re-bid?  Why was Council not informed of any re-bids especially since the cost nearly TRIPLED.  I ask City Council (especially Talbert and White since they were there in 2014 and voted to award $34,000 to Broadcast Works) WHY WAS THIS $83,000 NUMBER NOT IMMEDIATELY QUESTIONED RIGHT HERE ON JAN 8TH??

As an unrelated aside, also at this meeting, Finley is being grilled about the Water/Wastewater Lab/Shop by White and Talbert.  Specifically, Talbert is asking how “a project that started at $400,000 is now going to cost the city $1.2 million”.  [It sure seems like the price of just about every project TRIPLES in a short span of time.  I’m going to call this The Finley Factor.]

Feb 12, 2018: Finley says there is a general lack of bidding interest in demolition, framing, and special construction scope.  He’s asking for direction and possibility of revision of scope into one bidding package.

A contractor was invited to explain.  Lesley Greer of A&L Sanchez said there were a lot of discrepancies in the bid, and without a General Contractor for all of the project, it stalls the project.  She said that most bids similar to this project are bid as one with a GC that leads the project [you may recall that the City chose to NOT have a GC run this project to try and save some money – I sure recall it.  Seems like SOMEBODY should have known that going into this.]

Finley asks Council to let him bid this as one package and also to rescind all plumbing and HVAC/Electrical bids.  Council agrees to this.

March 12, 2018: Finley reviewed a status update of projects earmarked for funding with the 2016 CO (Certificate of Obligation) Issue. Discussions  include the need to increase funding on the Old City Hall project [surprise surprise…the Finley Factor strikes again…how high will the number get??]

In the next, and final chapter, we watch the cost for this project balloon to over $1,300,000.00!!

City Hall and Azbell Saga – Part IV (2016 – Slow and Boring Turd Polishing)

For the first part of 2016, the Azbell/City Hall turd remained buried in the corner of Council’s litter box…having been covered in gravel and forgotten temporarily.  It seems that many Council turds follow this pattern: heavy activity, major screw-up, turd gets buried (but never thrown out – see: civic center or LEDC Business Park) and is then uncovered later, when they try in vain to polish the turd with more money.  Nobody seems to learn that you CAN’T polish a turd.

The Old City Hall/Azbell turd was again unearthed in the May 23rd minutes, with our old friend Jennifer Walker – The Architect.

May 23, 2016: Jennifer Walker (JNW Architects) was present at the meeting.  She said the Old City Hall building is in good condition.  She reviewed fire protection codes, accessibility, means of egress and elevators – then reviewed her summary of requirements and recommendations.

Council asked Walker for a timeline. She thought she could have architectural plans to Council by next month and anticipated construction to begin Jan 2.

July 25, 2016: Finley provides Council with revised floor plan.  John Walker, JNW Architects, is present.  After review, Council approves with exception of excluding the stairs.

August 8, 2016: Budget workshop shows Renovation of Old City Hall at $400,000 in anticipation of use of CO (Certificates of Obligation).

[Also, Finley states that based on Operating Budget by Major Accounts, City worker benefits are approximately 40.8% of salary expense (24.3% is retirement, FICA and worker’s comp while 16.5% is health insurance) – something to remember when they create new positions out of thin air that “only” pay $65,000.  You need to add another 40% on to that to see the REAL cost to the taxpayer.]

Sept 26, 2016: More budget workshops – Old City Hall rehab estimated cost $600,000 [no, you are not imagining things…it seems to go up in price every time it is mentioned].  Also deGraffenried explained that Council is asked to consider the attached Ordinance that would authorize the issuance of bonds to support the renovation of Old City Hall [among other things].  [Proposed City Operating Budget is $26,659,526.00 – just an FYI]

Oct 10, 2016: Finley gives Council a copy of the “scope of services” proposal from JNW Architects for architectural services for Old City Hall.  Total cost is $38,500 – the breakdown is $20,000 for construction drawings “for construction in compliance with the City’s requirements” and another $18,500 for “structural analysis and provide documentation” of said analysis.  Jennifer Walker was present for meeting.

Council asks about a time frame and feels a clause should be inserted to hold them to a deadline.  Walker says 6-8 weeks…12 tops, if there are any unforeseen issues.  Harrison moves to approve proposal with the insertion of a 12-week deadline [roughly mid-January of 2017]….seconded by Talbert and carries unanimously.

Oct 24, 2016: Bids are received for demolition plans as specified by JNW Architects.  Quote are received from two local contractors:

  1. RKJ Construction $13,500
  2. Mike Hail Constructions $16,625

Councilman Harrison moves to award contract to RKJ…it is seconded and passes unanimously.

Nov 14, 2016: Demolition work is done in 14 days and 20,000 pounds of weight is removed from building.

deGraffenreid brings bids to Council on elevator equipment and installation.  Bids were:

  1. Austin Elevator Co $96,605
  2. Trojan Elevator Co $206,909
  3. RKJ Construction $119,532

Harrison moves to accept bid from RKJ – not the lowest bid – because “they are local and have done previous work for the city” [I get the local thing…but that’s $23,000…ouch].  Seconded by White and passes unanimously.

Nov 28, 2016: Requests for qualifications have been published and distributed for Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP) services.

Dec 12, 2016:  Seven RFQs received for the MEP work (can be found in minutes).  deGraffenreid said than after review and scoring done by City staff, the highest ranked firm is Hendrix Consulting Engineers out of Round Rock, Texas….and “asked Council to allow City staff to negotiate with them.  Once the City has a cost amount, it will be brought back to Council for consideration.”  McCauley then moves to authorize…Harrison seconds and motion passes unanimously.

[That is all info in the minutes for 2016.  Part V will follow and things get quite interesting there….it will cover 2017 and show this project balloon over a million dollars and counting]