For minutes of meetings not listed below please contact Alan Lo
at 203-854-6790 or email at alo@norwalkct.org

FEBRUARY 15, 2007

ATTENDANCE: Douglas Sutton, Chairman; Gwen Briggs, William Krummel,
Douglas Hempstead (8:12 p.m.)

STAFF: Alan Lo, Building and Facilities Manager

OTHERS: Ralph Velenzisi, Norwalk Public Schools Director of Technology,
Karen Del Vecchio, Director of Information Technology

ROLL CALL

Mr. Sutton called the meeting to order at 8:06 p.m. A quorum was not present at this time.

C. BUILDING MANAGEMENT

2. City Hall IT Server Rooms: Review proposal for engineering consulting services to prepare a facilities assessment and refer the following to the Common Council:

** MR. KRUMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

“A. AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR, RICHARD A. MOCCIA, TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH SOUTHPORT ASSOCIATES GROUP, INC. TO PROVIDE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SERVICES TO PREPARE AN ELECTRICAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR THE CITY IT SERVER ROOM AND BOARD OF EDUCATION IT SERVER ROOM. THE TOTAL FEE SHALL BE FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $(AMOUNT TO BE DETERMINED). ACCT. CITY IT CAPITAL 09070600-5777-C0375 AND BOARD OF ED OPERATING 1-58-2223-0-430-58
B. AUTHORIZE THE OFFICE OF BUILDING MANAGEMENT TO APPROVE ADDITIONAL SERVICES FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $(AMOUNT TO BE DETERMINED).”

Mr. Lo distributed copies of a letter from Southport Associates, dated February 9, 2007 to the Committee members from Mr. Michael Fabrizi, P.E. He explained that the letter had arrived at his office after the information packets had been sent out.

Mr. Lo then stated that he had been working on this project with Mr. Velenzisi and Ms. Del Vecchio for some time. As they evaluated the situation, it became clear to Mr. Lo that it would be best to have an outside engineer plan the rooms because of the number of considerations that needed to be factored into the plan. Mr. Lo then had some of the electrical engineers that are currently working on other projects for the City tour the Server Room and asked them for their opinions. Mr. Fabrizi was the only electrical engineering contractor that appeared to understand the full scope of the project completely. Mr. Lo then stated he felt that Mr. Fabrizi knew what he was doing.

Mr. Krummel asked about the Main Frame Room, which had its own air condition units. Ms. Del Vecchio stated that the room still exists and the air conditioning units are now twenty years old. One of the five units no longer works, and is being used for parts to repair the remaining units. The mainframe computer was removed about 12 years ago. The current servers still generate heat and need the air conditioning.

Mr. Hempstead arrived at 8:12 p.m. A quorum was now present.

Mr. Krummel asked about fire suppression and the other electrical back up systems. Mr. Lo reviewed the history of these systems from when the building was designed in 1986 with him. Mr. Krummel said that he was concerned that there was no competitive bidding on this project. Mr. Lo then reiterated his reasons for choosing Mr. Fabrizi’s group to handle the project and stated that there would be other upcoming electrical projects that would go out to bid. Mr. Krummel stated that he was uneasy with the perception that this would block other contractors. Mr. Lo then informed the Committee that he had recently cancelled some Next Gen lighting contracts because the contractor had not delivered the services on time. These recently cancelled contracts will go back out to bid.

Mr. Hempstead asked about the capacity of the current generator and if load shedding was being utilized. Mr. Lo said that Mr. Fabrizi would look at the generator in order to determine if additional upgrades were needed to support the future needs of the data center. Mr. Hempstead mentioned a program from the power companies, which was ending soon that provided funds for upgrading generators. He suggested that Mr. Lo look into it. When asked what this would cost the City, Mr. Lo informed the Committee that the cost was listed as $9,700 on page two of Mr. Fabrizi’s letter. A discussion regarding the various details of this project ensued.

** THE MOTION TO:
A. AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR, RICHARD A. MOCCIA, TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH SOUTHPORT ASSOCIATES GROUP, INC. TO PROVIDE ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING SERVICES TO PREPARE AN ELECTRICAL NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR THE CITY IT SERVER ROOM AND BOARD OF EDUCATION IT SERVER ROOM. THE TOTAL FEE SHALL BE FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $9,700. ACCT. CITY IT CAPITAL 09070600-5777-C0375 AND BOARD OF ED OPERATING 1-58-2223-0-430-58
B. AUTHORIZE THE OFFICE OF BUILDING MANAGEMENT TO
APPROVE ADDITIONAL SERVICES FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED
$9,700.”

PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

II. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING(S)

January 2, 2007 Special Meeting and January 18, 2007

** MS. BRIGGS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 2, 2007 SPECIAL MEETING.

Mr. Sutton commented that on page 2, paragraph 4, he asked a question regarding where the questions should be submitted. Mr. Sutton stated that this issue was also discussed in the January 18th meeting and was documented in the minutes.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

** MS. BRIGGS MOVED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 18, 2007 MEETING AS SUBMITTED.
** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

III. OLD BUSINESS

A. Review pricing for digital cameras and equipment and refer the following to the Common Council for approval:

** MS. BRIGGS MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

“A. AUTHORIZE THE PURCHASING AGENT TO ISSUE PURCHASE ORDERS TO CDWG FOR THE PURCHASE OF DIGITAL CAMERAS AND ACCESSORY EQUIPMENT FOR THE BOARD OF EDUCATION FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $22,239.65. ACCT. #09075010 5777 C0112”

Mr. Hempstead asked Mr. Velenzisi if he had checked into the statements that Mr. Poruban had made regarding Hunt’s Photo. Mr. Velenzisi replied that he had done so and discovered that the Hunt’s Photo was planning on providing refurbished cameras and does have a history of not delivering the merchandise in a timely manner. Also after further consideration, it was discovered that the second lowest bidder, CDWG included batteries with the battery chargers, which eliminates the need to purchase batteries. This results in CDWG being the lowest bidder for all items combined. Mr. Hempstead had several questions regarding the details of this proposal, which Mr. Velenzisi reviewed with him. Mr. Krummel wished to know how the students would integrate learning to use a digital camera in their futures. Mr. Velenzisi stated that the students would be learning not only to take digital images but to also insert them into reports. Real estate agents, insurance adjustors, and many repair people use digital technology like this. Also digital technology is used in preparing multimedia presentations.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

IV. NEW BUSINESS

A. Board of Education

1. Review proposal for PCs and software for Norwalk High School and refer the following to the Common Council:

** MR. KRUMMEL MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

“Authorize the Purchasing Agent to issue Purchase Order(s) to Dell Computer Corporation for PCs and software for Norwalk High School for a total not to exceed $22,266.50. Acct. #09075010 5777 C0112”

Mr. Velenzisi reviewed the situation regarding the computer lab at Norwalk High School with the Committee.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

B. NFCC

1. Nathaniel Ely Center Improvement Project: Review request to increase contract contingency and refer the following to the Common Council:

** MS. BRIGGS MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS:

“A. INCREASE CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE FOR AAIS CORP. OF WEST HAVEN CT’S ASBESTOS ABATEMENT CONTRACT FOR THE NATHANIEL ELY CENTER IMPROVEMENT PROJECT, FOR AN ADDITIONAL AMOUNT OF $30,000. ACCOUNT #09064074-5777-C0346

B. AUTHORIZE THE NFCC TO ISSUE CHANGE ORDERS ON
CONTRACT FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED THE CONTINGENCY ALLOWANCE.”

Mr. Lo reminded the Committee that he had brought this issue before them approximately two months ago. He then displayed a blueprint of the Nathaniel Ely Center and explained why the abatement process was so expensive. He also commented that in order to do the demolition work on Monday as planned, the abatement had to be done on a Saturday, which contributed to the cost of the abatement. Mr. Lo also said that regarding the three older school buildings, he is working on a capital budget request to abate all the tunnels in those buildings because when a pipe breaks, it costs more to do the abatement then since the water has to be filtered before being discharged.

There was a question regarding how much the Contingency Allowance was. Mr. Lo replied that it was $30,000, as stated in Section A of the proposal.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

C. BUILDING MANAGEMENT CONT’D

1. Ben Franklin Center Heating System Conversion: Review proposal for environmental consulting services and refer the following to the Common Council:

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED TO APPROVE THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTION:

“A. AUTHORIZE THE MAYOR, RICHARD A. MOCCIA, TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH HYGENIX, INC. TO PROVIDE ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE BEN FRANKLIN CENTER FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $5,500.00. ACCT. #09057100 5777 C0322

B. AUTHORIZE THE OFFICE OF BUILDING MANAGEMENT TO ISSUE CHANGE ORDERS ON CONTRACT FOR ADDITIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR A TOTAL NOT TO EXCEED $1,200.”

Mr. Lo reviewed the project with the Committee members.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

V. MISCELLANEOUS/DISCUSSION ITEMS

Mr. Hempstead asked what the status was regarding the Fodor Farm issue. Mr. Sutton said that the Committee still needs to thoroughly analyze the issue and forward a recommendation to the full Council. A discussion regarding the letter from the Law Department then followed.

Mr. Lo then displayed a lot line map of Fodor Farm and a letter from Mr. Wrinn that stated the procedure involved in creating a new lot. Mr. Lo then distributed a copy of Mr. Wrinn’s letter to the Committee members. He stated that Mr. Bryant had also received copies of these documents for his files.

Mr. Lo said that he had reduced one lot’s frontage to 95 feet to prevent a later subdivision. The second lot that he indicated on the map was slightly larger than the first parcel due to the fact that there was an existing in-law wing.

Mr. Hempstead asked about access to the third building. A Department of Public Works inspector owns property that borders the rear portion of the property and has asked in the past about a possible easement or sale of a small strip of the property in order to create a driveway. Mr. Hempstead then asked Mr. Lo to look into this situation and see if there would be a workable solution for both the City and the property owner.

Mr. Lo was asked if he had any additional information regarding the cost to the City regarding establishing a Historical District. Mr. Lo replied that he did not have that information yet. He also said that he would follow up with the Law Department regarding the information from CCM about Historic Districts.

** MR. HEMPSTEAD MOVED TO ADJOURN.

Mr. Hempstead then said that he had asked Mr. Bryant some questions about the Historic District at the public hearing and Mr. Hempstead had not received any further information. Ms. Briggs said that she believed that Mr. Bryant was still researching the information.

** THE MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Sharon L. Soltes
Telesco Secretarial Services

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