City Manager's Report 08/18/2008
Western Ave Paving and Fire Dept. Floor Bids
One bid was received for the Western Avenue Paving job from Pike Industries in the amount of $183,900. That contract is currently being reviewed for award.
Four bids ranging from the low bid of $29,800 to $55,000 were received for the repair of the fire department floor. The low bid in the amount of $29,800 was awarded to Seamless Industrial Floors of Worcester, MA. The next low bid to that one was $35,500 so the price appears to be a very competitive one.
Repairs at WWTF
One of the two centrifuges for dewatering sludge at the WWTF is undergoing major repairs due to its failure recently. This means we are operating on the backup centrifuge and have no further backup until the other one is repaired. The failure appears to be in the bearings of the centrifuge and we do not yet know what the cost to repair will be. These are the second set of centrifuges at the plant since it was built and they spin at about 3500rpm while dewatering sludge. We are hoping that we can get away with an inspection and repair as opposed to a replacement as that would be extremely expensive. These centrifuges already have about 8000 hours of operation on them.
Green Street Project
The Green Street Project of Phase I of the Rt. 110 project is finally starting to wrap up with final paving pretty much complete. Painting of the street lines should begin this week or next. Unsurfaced areas will be hydro-seeded and final landscaping will be going in as well. The Contractor is whittling down the final punch list on the project.
Don't forget that NHDOT has scheduled a Route 110 Phase II Public Information Meeting for Thursday August 28th here in Berlin. There will be an open house in the afternoon from 3pm to 6pm to allow people to come in and look at the alternatives and talk one on one with NHDOT and the City. The Information meeting itself will start at 6:30pm and go until 9pm. The flier from the NHDOT for this meeting is attached.
Unfortunately, the NHDOT Commissioner Campbell will not be able to attend the work session on Monday the 25th. We are still trying to schedule him at the earliest opportunity.
Meeting with Commissioner Wrenn regarding Women's Prison
While NHDOT Commissioner Campbell will not be able to make the meeting, State Corrections Commissioner Wrenn will be at the Council Work Session on the 25th of August to gauge the City Council's perspective with respect to the State locating a new Women's Prison in Berlin.
Valuation of Retiree Benefits
Charlie Cahill of AON Consulting, a Boston actuarial firm, presented the results of the review of our retiree benefit situation to Blandine and me as required by current auditing standards on August 7th. The final report will now go to the City's auditors for their determination as to what if anything needs to be done in terms of accounting for future liabilities of retirement benefits.
Grievance Arbitrations
There have been two grievances which have gone to arbitration recently. One was from OPEIU over a retirement benefit issue. The other was from AFSCME Local #1444 over a sick leave matter. Post-hearing briefs in both of these matters have to be filed soon and the arbitrators have 30 days from there in which to render their decisions.
EPA Brownfields Visit Thurs 8/21
This Thursday Diane Kelley, from the USEPA and Keith Dubois of the NHDES will be in Berlin to see first hand the Notre Dame High School (Burgess School) building for which we have obtained a $200k Brownfields grant to assist with its cleanup. The meeting will be at the High School at 10:30am and will be to look at the building in relation to the work which will be done with the federal Brownfields grant.
Airport SRE Building
The construction of the new snow removal equipment (SRE) building at the airport got under way with the first job site meeting last Thursday. The contractor is Couture Construction and the building should be completed before the snow flies. The building will house most of the airport's maintenance equipment. It is being funded with 95% federal money, 2.5% state money and 2.5% City money.
Bob Barbin Day
Last Thursday at noon, a very nice celebration was held on the City Hall steps recognizing the many years of community service that Bob Barbin has provided over the years as the voice of the Androscoggin Valley. Mayor Bertrand, Ray Burton, John Gallus and Barbara Tetreault all had nice words to say about Bob and what he has meant and what he continues to mean to this area.
Hodes Gorham RR meeting
On a very wet and rainy Wednesday August 6th, Congressman Hodes was in Gorham to present a $300K check representing funds which are being made available to the St. Lawrence and Atlantic RR for the improvement of the tracks north of Berlin. These improvements will allow the SL&A to move more freight at a quicker rate thereby improving rail service in this region.
Ray Burton Airport Tour
Each year Ray Burton does an airport tour of all the airports in the District including one (Fryeburg) in the State of Maine. Attached is the schedule for that tour which will be Friday August 22nd and includes Berlin at 5pm at the Berlin Regional Airport in Milan.