Finance Committee - 04/07/2021 Page 14
Mayor Donchess
Anyone?
Alderwoman Lu
Yes, | have a question, please.
Mayor Donchess
Alderwoman Lu?
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you. | understand that this, I’m sorry, this contract protects us because we were getting some bad
asphalt. And | just wondered whether — | am surprised at this point that we don’t require the provider to, | don’t
know, guarantee their asphalt and test it. Do you have any comments on that? | know that we were getting
bad asphalt and it was causing a problem. But shouldn’t this be a given with the prices we pay. And | havea
follow-up also.
Mayor Donchess
Well | can answer that to some degree because Mr. Hudson was not around at that time. First of all, we are
following the same procedure that the State of New Hampshire uses and | believe Manchester as well, | mean
the bigger paving entities. And the issues was, as you suggested, that there were questions, let’s put it that
way. Despite the testing that takes place once the asphalt is laid down, that doesn’t test samples, you can’t
possibly test every square foot of asphalt that’s laid down in 20 miles of paving or whatever. So some of the
asphalt that was (audio cuts out) regarding whether it was the proper consistency. But that’s hard to prove
after the fact, you know, OK 6 months go by, a year goes by, the asphalt seems to be peeling, it appears that
maybe the quality wasn’t what it should have been but that was hard to prove.
So given that issue, we met with (audio cuts out) paving contractor who does a lot with the State. And in an
effort to persuade them to begin bidding on the City’s work, we talked with NH DOT or someone did. And they
recommended this procedure because this way you know going in that you are getting the quality and the
consistency that is needed. | haven’t gotten into the details of the asphalt mixture for a little while, so | don’t
remember all of the details. But the differences can be fairly subtle. The percentage of and this maybe
hypothetical but maybe close, the percentage of the oil-based liquid or thick liquid that is added to sand and
silicone and all this kind of stuff that makes up the paving. There’s a big difference if it is 6% or 7% and you
want to make sure that if the specs say 7% it is 7%; not 6 % and not 5 % or something like that. And the only
way you can tell that really is testing at the plant where the asphalt is mixed. Once it is laid down it is very hard
to prove that it didn’t meet specs. So it is peeling but what does that prove?
Anyway we have found that following this procedure, and again, this is the same procedure that is used by the
State of New Hampshire and they do a lot of paving, that we are not having troubles with quality. We are
spending millions of dollars every year to pave and obviously given that, guaranteeing the quality of the
material we are buying is very important and this seems to be the best way to ensure that we are getting what
we are paying for.
Alderwoman Lu
Thank you. That makes total sense and | appreciate you clarifying that. It is a tiny percentage of the cost so it
makes sense. My follow-up is just, | am confused by the reference in the Memo from Ms. Parkinson. The
reference to 584 and it describes purchases under extensions of contracts, we don’t have to — | can’t
remember exactly what it says about it. But it references that the price doesn’t increase more than 10% per
year. Now | know in this case it increases more than 10% per year.
