Before
THE TOBYHANNA TOWNSHIP BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
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In Re: Solicitor's Report on Lake Naomi Pedestrian
Bridge/Walkway Bids from the Work Session
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Tobyhanna Township Government Center Building
State Avenue
Pocono Pines, Pennsylvania 18350
Monday, February 1, 2010, beginning at 4:21 p.m.
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PRESENT: JOHN E. KERRICK, Chairperson
HEIDI A. PICKARD, Vice-Chairperson
DONALD J. MOYER, Board Member
ANNE LAMBERTON, Board Member
PATRICK M. ARMSTRONG, ESQUIRE, Solicitor
ALSO PRESENT: JOHN BROGAN, Sewage Enforcement Officer
ROBERT McHALE, Township Engineer
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______________________________________________________
PANKO REPORTING
537 Sarah Street, 2nd Floor
Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania 18360
(570) 421-3620
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1 MR. KERRICK: I call the work
2 session to order. Let's go to the solicitor's
3 report.
4 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yeah. The Lake
5 Naomi pedestrian bridge/walkway bids, as the
6 board's aware, you opened the bid packets, I
7 believe, December -- late in December. And on
8 January 4 the board, in your reorganization,
9 regular, and work session meetings, you, I believe,
10 conditionally awarded the bid to the lowest
11 responsible bidder. One of those conditions was
12 that the bidder is approved by and accepted by
13 PennDOT, who is providing the grant funds for that
14 project. And in the interim, PennDOT did not
15 approve the lowest responsible bidder and is
16 therefore not going to be receiving the bid.
17 So the next -- the second lowest
18 bidder was Harry DePue, Incorporated and that bid
19 packet did not include a lobbying certification
20 form. And at this point, given the fact that
21 PennDOT needs to approve the bid for this
22 particular project as well, if the board was
23 willing to entertain possibly waiving that one
24 technicality with respect to the lobbying
25 certification form, it would have to be
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1 conditional, again, upon approval of PennDOT, as
2 well as acceptance of PennDOT of the bid packet of
3 Harry DePue, or you can reject all the bids as
4 nonresponsive and rebid the project as need be.
5 MS. PICKARD: Your last conversation
6 with McCormick Taylor indicated that they were
7 waiting for us to make a decision as to whether it
8 was --
9 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yeah. I spoke with
10 Brandy Rotz of McCormick Taylor, who is the
11 consultant for PennDOT for this project to my
12 understanding, and she had indicated that she would
13 not know for sure whether or not PennDOT would
14 approve the bid packet without the lobbying
15 certification form until she actually submits the
16 package to PennDOT.
17 She said that she was going to --
18 intended to indicate that there is the possibility
19 that they would approve it. So, but she would need
20 a letter from this board basically saying that you
21 would be awarding it to the second most bidder with
22 those conditions, conditional upon PennDOT
23 approval. And, you know, she would forward the bid
24 packet onto PennDOT and she doesn't know whether
25 they're going to approve the bid as it is or as it
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1 was submitted to the township without that lobbying
2 certification form.
3 MS. PICKARD: She said it would take
4 a week or two?
5 MR. ARMSTRONG: She said a week or
6 two. I don't see how it would take that long, but,
7 you know, that's the information I got from the
8 engineer from McCormick Taylor.
9 And obviously any -- if you're
10 worried to go that route, whether they'll reject
11 those bids and the project, it is conditional upon,
12 again, PennDOT approval, PennDOT review of the
13 bids, the bid packet, as well as confirmation that
14 the grant funds are still there from PennDOT for
15 the project, as well as review and approval of the
16 Lake Naomi Engineer, Langan, who, I think, has
17 already given the okay for the second lowest
18 bidder.
19 MR. JEFF EVANS: That's correct.
20 MR. ARMSTRONG: And if you are going
21 to consider that, we should go over what the total
22 bid price was for Harry DePue. The bid totals from
23 Harry DePue, Incorporated, the bid sheet for the
24 pedestrian bridge bid was $136,840. And the
25 pedestrian walkway bid was $92,175.34.
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1 MS. PICKARD: Brandy said that we
2 would be able to rebid the project and not lose the
3 grant funding, because I understood that we had to
4 have this bid by the end of December.
5 MR. ARMSTRONG: No. When I talked
6 to Brandy, she didn't indicate that there was a
7 need to have it -- you know, have us -- if we were
8 to rebid -- if we were to rebid it, she didn't
9 indicate a problem with respect to receiving the
10 grant funds. But, again, that was my conversation
11 with Brandy Rotz from McCormick and Taylor.
12 MR. JEFF EVANS: It's a timing
13 issue. The other thing that's very confusing, if
14 you look at the lobbying form, it specifically says
15 that it's for contracts. It doesn't say -- like
16 the anti-collusion, it's very clear that that's
17 part of the bid packet.
18 And the second bidder has indicated
19 that in all other projects that he's done with
20 PennDOT, that they've never had to fill out and
21 complete that form until they were awarded the bid
22 and that it was part of the contract. It also --
23 it doesn't really clearly show in the documents
24 that that's a required part of the bid packet.
25 Uhm --
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1 MR. ARMSTRONG: Jeff, Jeff, just
2 so -- I mean, I looked at it today. The bid
3 documents -- you know, the advertisement for the
4 bid under the bid document section, it's under
5 there. I'm not saying that this board --
6 MR. JEFF EVANS: And that's fine.
7 We're gonna follow your lead on whatever you decide
8 to do.
9 MR. ARMSTRONG: Right. And at the
10 end of the day, if this board, you know, is willing
11 to push it onto PennDOT and see if PennDOT is
12 willing to approve it, they may do that.
13 MR. JEFF EVANS: Yeah, and we're
14 willing. It's just a timing factor, but we --
15 obviously we're on the hook for the dollars so
16 we're following the lead of the township. If you
17 would like to reject the bids, we're certainly not
18 going to oppose that.
19 MR. ARMSTRONG: Now, when you say a
20 timing factor, is that a timing factor for the
21 construction of the project or the grant funds?
22 MR. JEFF EVANS: Not for the grant
23 funding. What I've been told is that they do not
24 allow you to go to bid until the funds are
25 committed. And I specifically asked the question,
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1 if we were in jeopardy of losing the funds if we
2 rebid the project, and the answer that I was given
3 was that we were not in jeopardy of losing the
4 funds.
5 MR. ARMSTRONG: And that's the
6 answer I was given as well.
7 MR. KERRICK: I would just like to
8 make a suggestion to the board, why spend any more
9 money to rebid it? It's not our issue, it's
10 PennDOT's issue. If they accept the bid, I don't
11 think we have an issue with it. Pass it onto
12 PennDOT.
13 MR. MOYER: Yeah, I'm fine with
14 that.
15 MR. KERRICK: I'm not quite sure why
16 we're in this situation to begin with. That's
17 my -- you tell us how to make the motion.
18 MS. PICKARD: My only question would
19 be that, if they would reject it, would we also
20 reject the rest of the bids and rebid it? Because
21 the other -- the next one's $100,000 or more.
22 MR. KERRICK: That's what I would
23 suggest.
24 MR. JEFF EVANS: Right, we would not
25 have enough funds with the third bid. We would not
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1 agree to the third bid.
2 MS. PICKARD: If we could just give
3 them like a week and then we could, before our next
4 meeting or right after our next meeting, instead of
5 waiting until March so we can go ahead and --
6 MR. KERRICK: Do you need a motion?
7 MR. ARMSTRONG: It would be two
8 separate motions.
9 MR. KERRICK: So do you need a
10 motion now to pass it on?
11 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yes. Yes, we do.
12 It would be a motion that the board would award the
13 second lowest bidder, being Harry DePue,
14 Incorporated, for the project subject to and
15 conditional upon PennDOT approving the bid packet,
16 as well as approving the contractor, as well as
17 confirmation from PennDOT that the grant funds are
18 still there and available for the township, and
19 approval and review of the Lake Naomi engineer, as
20 well as the township engineer.
21 MR. KERRICK: Does somebody make
22 that motion?
23 MS. PICKARD: So moved.
24 MR. KERRICK: So do we have a
25 second?
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1 MR. MOYER: Second.
2 MR. KERRICK: Motion and second.
3 Questions or comments?
4 Questions or comments from the
5 public?
6 Call the vote.
7 Anne?
8 MS. LAMBERTON: I abstain.
9 MR. KERRICK: Donny?
10 MR. MOYER: I vote in favor.
11 MR. KERRICK: Heidi?
12 MS. PICKARD: I vote in favor.
13 MR. KERRICK: I'll vote in favor.
14 MR. ARMSTRONG: And then your second
15 motion would be in the event that PennDOT does not
16 approve the Harry DePue, Incorporated bid packet,
17 that you therefore reject all bids due to the
18 significant costs and expense of the costs and
19 available funds for the township to contract with
20 the existing bidders and to rebid the project
21 thereafter.
22 MS. PICKARD: So moved.
23 MR. KERRICK: Okay. Do we have a
24 second?
25 MR. MOYER: Second.
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1 MR. KERRICK: Question. At that
2 point then we could reject -- it would be rejected
3 and we could rebid without having another meeting
4 per time factor, with what your motion is, the way
5 you just stated your motion?
6 MR. ARMSTRONG: Yeah.
7 MR. KERRICK: Any questions or
8 comments from the public?
9 Call the vote.
10 Anne?
11 MS. LAMBERTON: I'll abstain.
12 MR. KERRICK: Donny?
13 MR. MOYER: I vote in favor.
14 MR. KERRICK: Heidi?
15 MS. PICKARD: I vote in favor.
16 MR. KERRICK: I vote in favor.
17 Motion carried. Thank you.
18 Are you done with that?
19 MR. ARMSTRONG: That's all I have.
20 (Reporter dismissed at 4:31 p.m.)
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7 I hereby certify that the
8 proceedings and evidence are contained fully and
9 accurately, to the best of my ability, in the notes
10 taken by me at the meeting in the above matter; and
11 that the foregoing is a true and correct transcript
12 of the same.
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15 ______________________
16 EVILYS E. BRATHWAITE
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