MINUTES

Roy Smith moved for approval of the minutes of the March 2, 2006, minutes. Motion seconded by Rod Clay. All voted in favor and the minutes were approved.

The board discussed the legislative rules that have been final filed that take affect on July 1, 2006. Chairman Monteleone requested that Donna Lipscomb provide the board with the final version so they could review them prior to the next meeting.

The board discussed a letter the members received from Majority Leader Rick Staton which responded to the Design-Build Board’s letter sent to the legislature during the recent session. Chairman Monteleone requested that the minutes reflect that the board appreciated the letter and thank Mr. Staton for his interest.

Chairman Monteleone requested the board members to review the proposed application submitted by the Martinsburg Public Library prior to Donna Lipscomb placing the conference call to them. The board members reviewed the application and had concerns with the proposed project.

Rod Clay stated that the application does not reflect sufficient justification for a design-build project. Mr. Clay stated that a big issue is the lack of funding for the project. They want to have the project designed prior to going after the funding. He further stated that market volatility, rising labor cost, etc are not relevant to design-build. Roy Smith pointed out that it looks like they have already hired architects and civil engineers. He agrees with Rod Clay. Mr. Smtih also stated that their time line does not show much of a time savings. Chairman Monteleone stated that they have limited funds for the project and he believes they want to go the design-build method to save on costs and nothing more. They want to push the whole design side over to the bid package without the funding in place. He further stated that this is what the board is trying to prevent. Mr. Clay stated it is backwards in that the library requested contracts to submit designs without any idea of what the budget is. If the budget comes in over what they believe they can raise then they will go back to the drawing board.

Chairman Monteleone advised the board that they need to advise the library of the process and criteria and have them come back to the board. He suggested that the board advise the library that they need to go back and revise their application because the way it is currently written it does not fit the design-build criteria. Mr. Clay indicated that what the library is asking is for the design-build team to develop a budget for them and then they will go and find the funding. This is the wrong way to approach the project and puts a burden on the design-build process. Mr. Smith is concerned that this would leave a lot of design folks and builders hanging out there with no funding for work they have performed.

Donna Lipscomb placed a conference call to Pamela Coyle at the Martinsburg-Berkeley County Public Library. Chairman Monteleone discussed the library’s application with Ms. Coyle. He advised Ms. Coyle that the application has been reviewed by the board members and there are some concerns with the way it is written.

Chairman Monteleone went over the board’s concerns with Ms. Coyle. First, the project does not have it’s funding in place yet. The funding for a project is one of the requirements in the statute. The funding issue is a reason why the board could not approve the project today. Second, the time line in the application shows a difference between June and August of 2007. If the funding is not in place then construction will not be started on the date reflected on the time line and the completion date will be about the same and there will be no time savings at the end. Third, the board does not believe that the criteria is sufficient for design-build teams to be able to bid on the project. They need more concreteness to the project. Most people hire a criteria developer and create program requirements to give the design-build teams enough information to adequately bid on the project. It is expensive for design-build teams to put together the proposals in response to criteria. It is important for the design-build teams not waste their time and money on the proposals. Chairman Monteleone requested that the library put together more criteria so the design-build teams can adequately bid on the project.

Roy Smith questioned whether they had any idea of what their project would cost. Ms. Coyle stated they started initially at $600,000 based on the square footage they needed. The architect looked at what they wanted and what the cost of building was in the panhandle and he estimated $1 million to $1.5 million dollars. Ms. Coyle stated that the building has not yet been designed. They have hired an architect and a civil engineer to determine whether to build onto some existing structures or tear them down. Ms. Coyle stated that the library is in a catch twenty-two situation because they can not go to their grantors without plans so they see what they are funding. Mr. Sprouse asked how much money they have for the project currently. Ms. Coyle advised that they have an endowment fund of $1 million but it is not all for the library project. They have only been authorized to spend $200,000 for the project to date. Ms. Coyle wants to use the initial $200,000 to pay for the architect and engineer to get the plans in place so they can then go out and do heavy fund-raising.

Chairman Monteleone advised Ms. Coyle that it sounds like their project should be a traditional design-bid method. In the design-build method you do not hire the architect and engineer like you have done. They have not followed the design-build process. Ms. Coyle stated that every bid project they have done has ran over their budget and they want to avoid that process.

Chairman Monteleone advised Ms. Coyle that he had two recommendations for her. One is to resubmit their project to the design-build board. No official vote has been taken but upon polling the board members today they would not approve the project as submitted on their application. Second, he would revisit with the library’s board to get the funding approved. He also suggested that they contact the Jefferson County Commission and talk to them about the design-build process because they have a project that was approved by the board and know the process. Chairman Monteleone advised that they need to work with an architect that is familiar with the process. The library’s architect should have done some more work with them on their application. If the architect was familiar with the design-build process then they would have had a better application.

Chairman Monteleone advised the board that he has reviewed the monthly report provided by Donna Lipscomb for the Jefferson County Recreation Project that was approved by the board previously. He questioned whether this project was approved subject to the time line they gave the board during their presentation meeting. The concern is that the monthly report states that they made changes and there would be significant delays in the project. The Chairman thought the approval was based on the project starting by a certain date and the time line was critical and approval was subject to that time line. Chairman Monteleone requested that Donna Lipscomb review the file and advise him if the board’s approval was based upon the time line presented. If that is the case then the board should send a letter to Jefferson County as a follow up.

There was no other business to come before the board and the meeting was adjourned.