Finance Committee Page 6
September 7, 2016
Alderman Deane
So | wouldn't say it was a nickel and dime; maybe this is a back in cost but maybe we should be training
people as they go and this department was reliant on one individual and shame on the city for doing that. That
is just not a good thing to be doing and this is the end result of that. It’s a hard lesson to learn. | think it’s good
to cross train people and get them all well versed.
Alderman Siegel
| agree with Alderman Deane, however, | think unfortunately we let attrition to get to the point where we only
have one person left that understood what was going on for better or for worse which isn’t good and then they
left.
Mayor Donchess
| think when Mr. Budreau came in the department of seven people was virtually empty and he has worked very
hard to fill the department. He came in the middle of 2015 and Alderman Deane is right in that we were very
reliant on one person to be able to do payroll which is obviously a very important function for the city. Now Mr.
Budreau is making sure that we have cross training and more people who are available to make sure that the
payroll is delivered and we did through the budget add an additional person where we really needed it. | think
in the future we can help to avoid some of the problems we have had. If Mr. Budreau disagrees with any of
that he can let us know. We are trying to improve that cross training situation.
MOTION CARRIED
From: Dan Kooken, Purchasing Manager
Re: Contract Award for Burke Street — Programming and Conceptual Design (Value: $144,509)
MOTION BY ALDERMAN SIEGEL TO ACCEPT, PLACE ON FILE AND AWARD THE CONTRACT TO HTK
ARCHITECTS, INC., IN THE AMOUNT OF $144,509. FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE IN DEPARTMENT 129,
BUILDINGS; CITY BUILDINGS EXPENDABLE TRUST
ON THE QUESTION
Alderman O’Brien
It seems that public works is going to be the primary beneficiary which is fine but they did also mention the
school department but is that final? Are they including public health or anyone else in the city?
Mayor Donchess
Alderman Deane can supplement this but | think that the project has been more difficult to define in terms of its
scope and cost than people anticipated. You are going to be getting a more complete explanation on this in the
future but the original estimates were $10 million to $15 million for the entire project. The feedback that the
group that’s been working on this project; | think the facts are showing that the cost is likely to be considerably
higher than that and the project is more complex than it had seemed at the beginning. The recommendation
here is to hire this architect to define the cost and scope of the project in a more concrete way than we can do
right now. As far as the school department goes, because these complexities have developed it is the
conclusion of Director Fauteux and Alderman Deane and others that at this point we cannot guarantee or
promise to the school department that this space in the office building will be ready for July or August of 2017
and so we’ve told the school department that. The point here is that the Brentwood Program which is a special
education program is housed in a leased facility in Merrimack. Their lease is up at the end of this current
school year so in order to continue that program which results in considerable savings to the city because they
don’t have to be placed out of district, we need to continue with the Brentwood Program. We need to find an
