Rogers Park Restoration Committee Meeting Minutes

Monday July 24, 2006

Attendees: Paul Prentiss, Bob Bush, Michael Stein, Mark Riley, Dave Blauch, Dave Clark, Roger Svendsen, Dave Steinman

• Meeting was held at Roger’s home and was called to order by Roger at 7:10 P.M.

• Review ERC Proposal - Roger reviewed the comments he has received regarding the ERC Proposal. They included: Concern over BFC single sourcing project, Limited Grant Funding Sources, Project schedule impact due to Fishing is Fun grant money not available until the Spring of 2008, and funding the project as a design/build, versus requesting separate proposals for each phase.
  
  
  • BFC Single Sourcing Project to Ecological Resource Consultants, Inc. (ERC) - The group discussed the fact that this approach flowed naturally from previous meetings. During earlier meetings, Dave Blauch described the work his company has done and provided a large number of references. Examples of work product were shown to several committee members and were well received. ERC provided a number of references, some of them from TU clients, and all were extremely pleased with ERC’s work. Based on these facts and other positive attributes, the committee decided to continue to recommend to the BFC Board of Directors that ERC be awarded funds ($5K) to perform the first phase of the project. It was noted that obtaining additional bids would require significant effort in the preparation of a Request for Proposal document, along with Proposal scoring documentation. It would significantly impact our schedule at this point. Our approach to this project does not mean that all future projects will be approached in this manner. It should also be noted that if the ERC budget estimate for the construction phase of the project is deemed to be too high by the committee, our relationship with ERC can be terminated and the retail value of the first phase of the project (an additional $15K) will be paid to ERC. The construction phase would then be awarded to another company. Another minor concern is a comment Al Permut and Roger heard from the County. The two people we talked with had not experienced a project where competitive bids had not been required. Those were all dealing with County funds. We discussed this risk and determined it was zero or at best minimal. We are not using County funds, and in fact several meeting attendees are aware of existing and previous situations where the county has not required bids for County projects. Roger and Al will continue to request acceptance on this point from the County.
    
  • Limited Grant Funding Sources - Roger and Paul explained an opportunity to obtain earlier funding from the Colorado Dept. of Wildlife Habitat Stamp Fund. The application for these funds must be submitted by 7/31/06, but after reviewing the requirements, the committee decided to work hard and meet the deadline. The application requires letters of support from the City of Boulder, Boulder County, and CDOT. Rog will work to get those letters completed and sent to Paul. We also need a design concept document and high level budget. Dave will prepare those items beginning immediately after the Board grants funding for his proposal. Dave Nickum, CTU, has agreed to pull all of this information together and Paul will assure Dave has everything he needs. This funding would be available next year, 2007, which would allow us to complete construction in the Fall of 2007 and the vegetation portion in the Spring of 2008.
    
  • Design/Build Contract vs. Separate Contracts - This topic was discussed and it was decided to go forward with a Design/Build approach. The cost of construction will be reviewed after design is complete to assure it is competitive. Our risk is considered low using this approach and ERC’s cost and budget track record is excellent.
  
  
• Review ERC References - All references were either positive or extremely positive, with some ERC work leading to follow-on business which is one of the best possible recommendations.


• Decide on need for additional proposals - This topic was also discussed. Nobody present thought this would be a good idea or necessary. Refer to the discussion above.


• Review CDOT Phone Conversation (Mark Goselin - 303-442-5640) - Roger spoke with Mark several weeks ago. Mark asked that we not meet until the design was well underway. At that time, he would like to meet with members of the project team on the creek. He thought that based on our work at the BFC park above the tunnel and the work we propose, approval from CDOT will be a formality.


• Determine remaining requirements for BFC Board approval to release funds. - In discussion, it was felt that the BFC Board of Directors will not have any remaining concerns about going forward with ERC and their proposal. Paul will notify Dave Blauch immediately after the meeting and if the contract is approved, ERC will begin work on the design early Thursday morning and will have documentation and budget estimates ready by Friday for submission to the DOW for the Habitat Stamp grant.


• List Next Steps:
  • Preliminary Design
  • Permit Process
  • Grant Funding


• Enlist Volunteers as needed - No additional volunteers are needed at this time.


• Set next meeting date - Roger asked Dave Blauch to review his design plan schedule and e-mail the group suggesting a date for our next meeting. He will circulate design and/or other documents via e-mail prior to the meeting.


• The meeting adjourned shortly after 8 P.M.

Respectfully Submitted,

Roger Svendsen

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