LTC 236-2006 The Sunpost Article on Washington Avenue
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MIAMI BEACH
OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER
LTC NO. 236-2006
LETTER TO COMMISSION
FROM:
Mayor David Dermer and Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez, City Manager \ ~ -0--
October 5, 2006 0
The Sunpost Article on Washington Avenue
TO:
DATE:
SUBJECT:
In the September 21, 2006 edition of The Sunpost, in the Murmurs section, an article was
published discussing the Washington Ave. project scope, the original budget and the
additional costs. The article also included a mention of a possible recommendation for a
waiver of bid to award additional work in the Lummus neighborhood to Ric-Man
International, Inc.
The article contains a number of inaccuracies that need clarification. The article states that
Mr. Chartrand of the CIP Office stated that the Washington Ave. had been completed in
budget and on time. The article appears to imply that this statement is not accurate because
there were an additional $4.1 million of change orders on the project. This statement does
not clearly explain the nature of the change orders and fails to acknowledge that all of the
additional work was for increased scope requested by the Administration, the City
Commission or the residents.
The additional scope added to the project included the following items:
Amendment No. 1 Additional Drainage to $555,783
Coordinate with Flamingo!
Lummus Neighborhoods
Amendment NO.2 New traffic signals Mast $686,880
Arms per MD County request
and funded by MD County
Amendment No. 3 Re-direction of traffic in 7tn & $1,642,301
8th Streets and streetscape &
infrastructure improvements
per Bid Pack 10 B
Amendment NO.4 Additional Improvements to $574,560
Wash. Ave. medians
including Malayan palms
Amendment No.5 161H Street Drainage to $1,094,815
coordinate with Lummus
Neighborhood Improvements
Amendment NO.6 Additional drainage wells $197,960 (submitted in the
which were part of the 7th & October 2006 City
8th streets Lummus design Commission Agenda
Total $4,752,299
Washington Ave. LTC
October 5, 2006
Page 2 of 2
The cost of the items detailed above approximates the amount mentioned in the article and
all items were approved by Resolution by the City Commission. The items represent
appropriate and reasonable additions to the overall project scope, were properly negotiated
by staff, and resulted in more effective and efficient implementation of further improvements
to the area.
In a previous article published in Miami Today Mr. Chartrand stated to a reporter that the
project had been on budget, since all change orders were the result of additional scope and
based on proper requests, and on schedule since the basic improvements included in the
original Agreement, and even some of the additional scope was completed by Ric-Man
within the original allotted timeline stated in the contract. It is customary in the construction
industry to consider projects in budget and on schedule when delays or additional work is
not the result of the contractor's performance. This is clearly the case in this project.
Finally, the article in the Sunpost states that Mr. Chartrand did not return phone calls and
that Mr. Chartrand did not want to comment on the possibility of the Administration
requesting that additional scope be given to Ric-Man on the project and that a waiver of
competitive bidding is being considered on the matter. In a conversation with a reporter Mr.
Chartrand stated that this matter was still in the discussion stage within the Administration
and staff and that once the item was placed on the agenda for the City Commission meeting
of October 11,2006, there could be further discussion and commentary.
In summary, it appears that the article published in The Sunpost did not accurately reflect
the history and content of the Washington Avenue project and did not accurately represent
the actions taken by the Administration on the additional scope. This Letter to Commission
should serve to clarify those items which were not fully represented and not completely
reflected in the article.
If you have any questions on this matter please do not hesitate to contact the City Manager's
Office for further information.
C: T. Hemstreet, Assistant City Manager
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