Quincy Reporter

Adams County Board met July 27.

Here are the minutes provided by the board:

The County Board of Adams County, Illinois held a special board meeting at the Courthouse, Quincy, Illinois at 6:00 P.M., pursuant to recess.

PRESENT: Kent Snider, Chairman

Ryan Niekamp, County Clerk

Mr. David Hoskins gave the invocation which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

Chairman Snider called the meeting to order.

The County Clerk called the roll and the following members were present: Mark Peter, Robert Reich, John Brady, David McCleary, Les Post, Joe Zanger, David Hoskins, Bret Austin, Rebecca Weed, Barbara Fletcher, Ryan Hinkamper, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, Travis Cooley and Kent Snider.

Absent were: Matt Obert, Theresa Bockhold, Todd Duesterhaus, Steven Demoss, Taylor Rakers

Total Present: 16 Absent: 5

Chairman Snider declared a quorum present.

Officeholders, department heads, and/or their representatives also present were: Caitlin Hickerson- County Board Office, Terry Bower- Maintenance Department, David Hochgraber- Director of IT, Todd Eyler-States Attorney’s Office,

Mr. Snider introduced the new board member, David Mccleary and reminded the board members to remember to speak into the microphone.

Mr. Snider entertained a motion to suspend the rules to allow the public to speak.

Mr. Zanger made a motion to suspend the rules to allow the public to speak.

Mr. Austin seconded the motion.

The motion to suspend the rules to allow the public to speak was approved.

At this time, Mr. Mike Barnard spoke to the board. He thanked the board for allowing him to speak. Mr. Barnard asked what the county loses with an out of at own company. He stated a job like this is 40-50% labor. He stated with a local company, this means prevailing wage jobs and benefits that stay within the community. He stated going with an out of town company, the workers come from out-of-town communities and the money goes out of our community. It costs nothing to keep this money in the community and the board could achieve this by treating the local company fair. He stated they have been before and would possibly be the lowest bidder on this project. Mr. Barnard stated that Mr. Eyler, assistant states attorney, made it clear that the law doesn’t allow you to give preference to the local company. He stated he believes that that law means you can’t give preference to any company and he believes it has been in the past and currently. Mr. Barnard stated he believes the bid specs were written to purposely leave the local company out. He stated the board voted to reject the Otis bid and to also put the project out for rebid. He stated he doesn’t believe the committee chairman had any intentions on letting that happen as he called a special committee meeting, neglecting to invite him to it even though he invite Otis Elevators. He stated the committee chairman tried to dig up dirt on Barnard Elevator and misrepresent things that had happened in the past. He believes the board meant something different when they voted to rebid the project. Mr. Barnard stated he believes the committee is trying to sell this sense of urgency on the project by saying this elevator can go down and cause big issues. He stated the elevator has been down for almost 2 years and waiting a little longer will not cost anything. Mr. Barnard asked the board to follow through with their vote in the last meeting as nothing has changed. He asked them to direct the committee to rebid this.

At this time, representatives from Otis Elevator spoke. Hannah spoke to the board. She stated they are a local elevator company located on Maine Street that pays taxes in Adams County. She stated they have serviced Blessing Hospital as well as other surrounding business in Adams County for over 50 years. She stated their commitment to the area can proven by their dedication to having a 40-hour pe week mechanic based in Quincy with living requirements no further than 30 minutes from Quincy Illinois which makes him an Adams County taxpayer. She stated they also support local business through their partnership with Quincy Chamber of Commerce, purchasing from vendors such as Quincy Fairfield Inn, Awerkamp Machine and Hollister-Whitney. She stated the biggest highlight she wants the board to take is that there are at least 4 regular bidders that bid in Adams County. 3 directly listed on the bid specification. She stated she does not know why nobody else bid but that maybe it is because work is picking up and maybe they didn’t want to. She stated that Otis Elevators submitted a competitive and reasonable bid based on specifications that were written up by a 3rd-party architect. She stated that their opinion, is that it is an unfair bidding practice to expose prices to the competition and then allow others to submit their pricing.

Mr. Bellis made a motion to return to regular session.

Mr. Post seconded the motion.

The board returned to regular session.

Transportation, Building & Technology

Committee Report (Mr. Bellis)

Bills – The committee held a special board meeting on Tuesday, July 20th to revisit the elevator bid.

Mr. Bellis apologized to the board on bringing this up 2 weeks ago as not coming from the committee. He stated he was wrapped up in the moment and the urgency to get this project done after all of the delays. He stated they bid this project a few months ago the way they wanted it bid and that they didn’t exclude anybody by asking for proprietary equipment. He stated that anyone can buy that equipment. They invited the president of Hollister Whitney which is where they are buying equipment from for the project. This representative told them it is better to stay with one company rather than multiple dealing with service contracts. He stated Otis has install and repair crews, half-hour response time, they have said they can and will work on the elevator that’s been broke for two years and they can work on two at a time, completing them within 8 weeks. He stated Otis has a handheld electronic device to trouble shoot what they need on the spot rather than the delay from ordering parts for trial and error. He stated if they put this out for bid again, anything bid after May 31st, 2021 will most likely have to have a sprinkler system along with voice and audio recording in each car. This would cost an extra $100,000 or more to upgrade. He stated the committee voted unanimously to stick with the single bid for this project. He is asking the board to approve this bid.

Reports

a. Elevator Bid

Resolution

a. 2021-07-001-015- Elevator Modernization Phase II – ARPA (ATTACHMENT A-1)

Mr. Bellis made a motion to approve the resolution.

Mr. Zanger seconded the motion.

Discussion: Mr. Post stated that the uniformity of the equipment throughout the courthouse is important. He stated they can have a supply of consumable parts that will fit every elevator in our building. He also stated that they need to consider how major this purchase is and that it will be something that will most likely last as long as the building does.

Mr. Bellis stated that Otis does stock parts in town.

Mrs. Weed asked why the elevator was down for two years.

Mr. Snider stated that it is now storage, but they are trying to get it fixed.

Mrs. Fletcher asked if they can explain why it was down for that long.

Mr. Bellis stated that the current elevator company could not fix it yet we were still charged.

Mr. Hinkamper stated he understood it needs a complete overhaul and that major components are completely obsolete and you cannot buy new parts for it. Mr. Post stated they tried to keep it running as long as possible for the old jail. He stated they didn’t want to keep spending a ton of money on it and instead just turned it off.

Mr. Hinkamper asked how old the elevator is.

Mr. Snider believes it was original with the building that he thought was built in the 50’s.

Mrs. Fletcher asked if it can be repaired or if it has to be completely replaced.

Mr. Post stated it wouldn’t be cost prohibitive to try to repair it.

Mr. Hinkamper asked if there was a deadline to bid. He asked if there was anything in the bidding process that excluded anyone from bidding.

Mr. Bellis confirmed.

Mr. Hinkamper asked Mr. Barnard if he could have bid this project. Mr. Barnard stated he could not have bid on this project. He stated they do not sell proprietary equipment. He stated it’s a business choice and what is available to him on the open-market is non-proprietary.

Mr. Hinkamper stated that he understands the parts to do the project could be available if they chose to provide it. He stated he struggles with why he didn’t bid on it because if he did, there would be more discussion to have.

Mr. Barnard stated that it was not possible to bid to the specifications. He stated if he did bid, it would have been outside the specifications as a voluntary alternate and that proprietary equipment is not available to independent contractors. He stated they can buy individual parts, but not a whole package or proprietary equipment.

Mr. Bellis stated you could do it, but do not want to since it will just take more time. Mr. Barnard stated that it is not true.

Hannah stated that Barnard is not wrong that there are some things he cannot buy. She stated that the very first bid was not for proprietary equipment. She asked the architect for an alternate bid for proprietary equipment. She stated that you can formally submit an alternate to the specs to the architect and that is what they did.

Mr. Barnard stated that he did speak to the architect to see if they could bid it and they told him they were told to put it as proprietary. He stated they also told him he could bid but it would not be accepted by the board.

Mr. Hinkamper asked for clarification.

Mr. Barnard stated they meant the committee would not because it would have been outside of the specs.

Mr. Hinkamper stated at least they would have had numbers to look at.

Mr. Barnard stated they can look at the other projects they bid on and see they are lower bids. He stated that maybe he should have put a bid that doesn’t meet the specs.

Mr. Hinkamper stated he’s just stating the information he has at hand. 

Mr. Brady asked where Otis’ corporate office is.

Hannah stated that is in Connecticut but their local office is in Quincy.

Mr. Austin called the question.

A roll call vote was taken to approve the resolution. Those in favor were Mark Peter, Robert Reich, John Brady, David McCleary, Les Post, Joe Zanger, David Hoskins, Bret Austin, Rebecca Weed, Barbara Fletcher, Ryan Hinkamper, Dave Bellis, Marvin Kerkhoff, Raquel Piazza, Travis Cooley and Kent Snider.

Total in favor was 16. Total opposed was 0. Total absent was 5.

2. The Adams County Board has assigned clear responsibilities for periodic reporting of progress on this project to the Adams County Board or its designated agent, Bellwether LLC.

https://www.co.adams.il.us/home/showpublisheddocument/6007/637647216930930000