Things were quiet for a bit after the previous fireworks. When I go through every single page of minutes, I not only read them all the way through, I also use keyword searches to make sure I didn’t miss anything – keywords like “Azbell”, “Monica”, “chambers”, “civic center” and maybe a couple more, as I am finding waste in other areas as well.
August 24, 2015: This is where things get a bit confusing. Near as I can figure, they were already renovating “Old City Hall” before all this Council Chambers mess and maybe decided that instead of building an entirely new structure JUST for city council, they will locate inside newly renovated “Old City Hall” which seems so logical, I don’t know why any other ideas were even entertained.
Regardless, we see from the minutes that “Old City Hall: city staff has met with a potential elevator shaft contractor, as well as an architect and structural engineer. After the elevator has been specified and located, staff will begin soliciting trade services for plumbing, electrical and HVAC. Monica Wright has discussed the change of location with the IT vendor for A/V system and it appears cost should be equivalent to quotes received for the previously proposed Chamber project”
[OK – so it appears the original $34,000 bid from Broadcast Works is still alive. There has been no mention of any other deal or re-bidding of anything – gotta assume they are still talking about Broadcast Works here]
September 28, 2015: Minutes state “Update on Council chambers” – since the “Council Chambers” project is supposed to be dead, I have to once again assume they actually mean “the council chambers inside soon-to-be-renovated Old City Hall”. Again, the way all this is worded is somewhat confusing. But the minutes tell us that “the audio visual vendor toured the building and saw no problem with doing the work” – and also that “Mayor Toups wants to know the probable total cost of this project before proceeding any further” [not sure if this means the cost of the ENTIRE City Hall renovation or just the council chambers portion – confusing, as it seems to be a habit of some of these people to get halfway through a project before discussing cost.]
Council member Harrison [who apparently has a learning curve that looks like a flat line] said he preferred working with JNW Architects [remember them?] since “Council had worked with them before on the previous plan” [yes they did…on a plan that resembled the Bay of Pigs invasion].
Council member McCauley preferred NOT working with JNW Architects because of all the screw-ups on the last project – “which was very costly “[circle gets the square, McCauley]
November 23, 2015: Finley hands Council a proposal to let JNW Architects [again??] cash yet another $18,500 check for “architectural services” for Old City Hall. Toups, not unlike a cow who has wandered into an electric fence one too many times, is wary of Finley bearing gifts…he asks “how many more ‘architectural services’ would need to be done after this phase and how much more cost could the city be looking at” [good question!!]
Jennifer Walker of JNW Architects [who could have played the Serpent in the garden of Eden to some acclaim] said that it depended on what was found and she couldn’t really give an amount, since no building plans exist [blank check alert!!!]. Finley backs her up: no floor plans can be found….just a few schematics.
Mike White [also clearly wary of the proverbial electric fence shock] states that “with so many unknowns, it could turn into an open-checkbook project [ding ding ding ding!!]
That is it for 2015….stay tuned for Part IV