Memorial Hall Renovation Chronology.

The following is a memo issued by City Administrator Tom Short to the City Council concerning the history of the Memorial Hall renovation project.

"Due to the length of this project and changes in the composition of the various Council Committees and the City Council, included is a short chronology of events and actions regarding the renovation work for the Memorial hall.

In January 1998, the City established the Memorial Hall Long-Range Planning Committee. The City Council requested the Committee recommend a master facility plan for the Memorial Hall Building that would define its best current and potential usages meeting the entertainment, cultural, recreational, economic and other appropriate needs of the community. The Committee submitted its report in May 1998, to the Council. As part of their recommendations, the Committee recommended the services of an architect to develop recommended improvements. In September of 1998, the Architectural firm of Pellham, Phillips, Hagerman was hired by the City to provide a long-range development plan for the Hall. This plan was received by the City in February 1999. Due to the magnitude of required funding for the plan and the City’s lack of funds, no work on the plan was begun. In March and April of 1999, grant requests were sent to local foundations for more than $1.6 to accomplish the project. Additionally, late in the fall of 1998 staff became aware of the Missouri Veterans Commission grant funds available for veteran memorials. An application deadline for these projects was after July 1999. In March 2000, the Public Services Committee, in light of the Veterans Grant, developed a scope of work that could be funded by the grant pursuant to their guidelines. In April 2000, the Memorial Hall Long-Range Planning Committee was asked to re-evaluate the Master Plan that had been submitted to the Council due to changes since the plan was submitted. The Committee also reviewed the grant application to Veterans Commission. The Committee supported the application as ultimately approved by the Council. In November 2000, the City signed a contract with Pellham, Phillips, Hagerman for services to prepare plans and specifications of the project. The Public Services Committee was intimately involved in the review and approval of the specs and the City authorized the architects to solicit bids. The City was notified August 2000, of approval of the first Veteran’s grant. In April 2001, requests for bids were sent out to known contractors of the construction for the improvements. On June 1, 2001, bids were opened in an amount substantially higher than anticipated. Since that time a second application was sent to the Veterans Commission for a portion of the additional funding for the project. An application was authorized by the City June 2001, for the additional amount. In September 2001, the City submitted an amended application to the Boylan foundations for $100,000 and the Steadley Foundation for $250,000. The Steadley Foundation agreed to match any award the Boylan Foundation granted to the City up to $100,000. The Boylan Foundation did not approve the request by the City. In September 2001, the City received notice from the Commission of approval for the additional funds . Following is a breakdown of some of the specific items that transpired after the bids opening.

At the September 13, 2001, Council meeting, the Council voted to accept the recommendation of the Public Services Committee to accept the bid of R.E. Smith Construction Co. in the amount of $1,071,000. It was reported by the Committee Chairman that the amount exceeded budget but this would enable the City to proceed with negotiations with the contractor. He also noted that the City had only appropriated $800,000 for this project so cuts would be necessary.

At the Public Services Committee meeting of September 20, 2001, it was reported staff, Joe Jensen (Pellham, Phillips & Hagerman) and Jason Eckhart (Sprenkle & Asso.) had met with Dave Smith of R.E. Smith Construction Co. to discuss the scope of work for the project. The contractor presented an itemized list of bid items. These, however, were not in a format comparable to the Architect’s estimates on a floor by floor basis. The Committee discussed prioritizing the components of the project. After discussion it was agreed that the elevator was first, the roof second, the veteran’s offices third, the entrance and museum fourth and the basement last. Therefore, in order for the project to come within budget, the contractor would come back with his numbers deleting the basement work, except for the HVAC system and the kitchen appliances, from the project. As the roof installation was weather dependent, the contractor wished to begin this portion as soon as possible. Therefore, staff would work to have a proposed contract for the October 9, 2001, Council meeting for adoption as an emergency. The Committee also discussed the possibility, if needed, of requesting an appropriation of additional funds depending on negotiations with the contractor.

At the Public Services Committee meeting of October 1, 2001, the Committee received a revised price on the project from R.E. Smith in the amount of $862,000 with the deletion of the basement work. The Committee also discussed the possibility of completing the original scope of work and a potential budget adjustment to accomplish it. After discussion, the Committee voted to recommend the entire project to the Council.

The Budget Committee, at their October 8, 2001 meeting, also discussed the Memorial Hall project in conjunction with the discussion and recommendation made by the Public Services committee. The Budget Committee reviewed information as to how the City could reallocate current budget items to provide adequate funds to cover the entire contemplated cost of the project. After discussion, the Committee voted three to one to recommend doing the entire scope of work as originally contemplated to the full Council and making the appropriate budge adjustments at the next Council meeting.

At the Council meeting of October 9, 2001, the Council, after discussion, voted (6-4) to accept the recommendations of the Public Services Committee and the Budget Ways & Means Committee to adjust the budget to provide of the original scope of renovation of the Memorial Hall project instead of cutting project components.

There have been a number of changes and adjustments regarding this project since its inception in 1998 regarding the scope of work and funding. These have been discussed by the appropriate committees and reported to the Council along the way. We are now at the point where, in the best interest of the City, the contractor would like to begin his work as soon as possible. Due to weather concerns, the contractor would like to start the roof work before bad weather sets in. In the phasing plan of the improvements, the roof work was in the first phase to be completed. After a contract is signed, the contractor (according to conversations with him) will need approximately fourteen days or so, to get this documentation in place to begin his work. If the contract is approved at the October 23, 2001, meeting, work may begin in early to mid-November. If it is not, the work probably will not be able to begin until late November."

Tom Short, City Administrator

NASCAR to the Max

The NASCAR tour makes its annual trip to the desert southwest and the 1-mile D-Shaped oval in Phoenix, Arizona this weekend. The drivers find the track very challenging because there is very little banking through the turns and all of the turns have a different radius.

In addition to normal grandstand seating, Phoenix offers another option, mountainside! Spectators may purchase general admission tickets for viewing the race on a large mountain situated on the outside of turns three and four. By race time, among the rocks and cactus, the hillside will be covered with lawn chairs, blankets, sunshades and a very enthusiastic crowd. Flat track specialists Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon, and Bobby Labonte will be among the favorites of the 43 drivers who will start the race.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. claimed the win at last weekend’s race at Talladega, Alabama. Talladega was the sight of his late father’s memorable charge from 18th to 1st in the last five laps of last years race and also marked the last win of the elder Earnhardt’s career. There were 32 official lead changes, which are only counted at the start finish line, among 13 drivers during the 188 lap, 500-mile event.

The cars ran three abreast throughout the race with periods of four and five abreast as expected. Racing in such tight packs at Talladega and Daytona leads drivers and fans alike to expect "The Big One," a multi-car accident which eliminates significant numbers of cars from competition. These multi-car accidents have become common occurrences at these speedways.

"The Big One", a sixteen car pileup, occurred on the final lap of Sunday’s race and relegated several of the days frontrunners to finishes in the middle of the pack. Those who had challenged for the lead or had led during the day but were involved in the wreck included Bobby Labonte, Bobby Hamilton, Sterling Marlin, and Ricky Rudd. Jeff Gordon added 61 points to his lead over Ricky Rudd and unless Gordon forgets to show up for any of the remaining races he will win this year’s Winston Cup Championship.

Part of the role the Mornin’ Mail accepts is to document those events that take place in the community. Today’s feature gives an accurate time line and documents the various events that led to the final 8-2 vote by the Council to accept the bid for partial renovation of the Memorial Hall. After all that, the bill just had ta come through as an "emergency."

I hope the evenin’ paper’s call for citizen support of the project is remembered next April when the City budget reflects the withdrawal of the six hunderd and some thousand dollars used for the project.

I will also be interested to see if the evenin’ paper practices its preachin’ and utilizes the Hall for their various promotions that have recently been moved to other locations.

This is some fact, but mostly,

Just Jake Talkin’.

by

Metcalf Auto Supply

Click & Clack
TALK CARS

by Tom & Ray Magliozzi

Dear Tom and Ray:

I have an Olds Cutlass Ciera with 40,000 miles on it, and it has been a great little car. To make a long story short, I was having a problem with overheating, and my GM dealer examined the car and told me I had a cracked engine block. I had a new short block and a crankshaft installed, but when I got the car back, I was still having problems with the temperature.

After 30 or 40 miles of driving, the temperature gauge started creeping up past the halfway point. I took it back and they replaced a thermostat sensor. I drove it again, and after 30 miles or so the temperature started going up again. Now I’m afraid to drive the car any distance. Could it be that the fan motor isn’t kicking on? Gentlemen, I’m 82 years old, and I need wheels because I’m not too good on roller skates. -Hy

RAY: Hi, Hy. Sorry, I couldn’t resist that one. Let’s consider the best and worst-case scenarios first, since it’s probably neither of those.

TOM: The best-case scenario is that everything is fine. You say that the temperature gauge creeps up past the halfway mark, but you don’t say whether it KEEPS going. If it stops just above the halfway point and stays there, that may just be the result of the new block breaking in and running a little hotter than normal right now. And that would be nothing to worry about.

RAY: The worst-case scenario is that your dealership made a mistake and failed to notice that the cylinder head, not the block, was cracked. Or that the head was cracked in addition to the block.

TOM: But let’s not be alarmists. There are several other good possibilities here. It could be a faulty fan, as you suggest, and that’s very easy to check.