AUGUST 7, 2014  10:07 AM      MEMBERS PRESENT  Representative Mike Hawker, Chair Representative Mike Chenault Representative Max Gruenberg Representative Craig Johnson Representative Lance Pruitt Representative Peggy Wilson Senator John Coghill Senator Kevin Meyer MEMBERS ON TELECONFERENCE  Representative Mike Chenault Representative Peggy Wilson Senator Mike Dunleavy Senator Dennis Egan Senator Gary Stevens   MEMBERS ABSENT  Senator Peter Micciche, Vice Chair Representative Bill Stoltze Senator Charlie Huggins   AGENDA  CONTRACT APPROVALS SPEAKER REGISTER Wayne Jensen, Jensen Yorba Lott, Inc. and Project Architect on the Capitol Building Restoration Pam Varni, Executive Director, Legislative Affairs Agency Doug Gardner, Legal Services Director, Legislative Affairs Agency 10:07:46 AM I. CHAIR MIKE HAWKER called the Legislative Council meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. in room 105 of the Anchorage Legislative Office th Building located at 733 W 4 Avenue. Present at the call were Representatives Hawker, Johnson, and Pruitt, and Senator Meyer; available via teleconference were Representatives Gruenberg and P. Wilson, and Senators Coghill, Dunleavy, Egan and Stevens. Representative Chenault joined the meeting via teleconference in order to vote on the Alaska State Capitol Seismic Retrofit and Exterior Renovation. II. CONTRACT APPROVALS  a. Alaska State Capitol Seismic Retrofit and Exterior Renovation  CHAIR HAWKER said this meeting was to discuss expansion on the current year's work on the Capitol Building Seismic Retrofit and Exterior Renovation. He confirmed that Wayne Jensen was on teleconference and asked that he give committee members a short brief on what has been accomplished on the project to date and the request for consideration today. WAYNE JENSEN, Architect with Jensen Yorba Lott Architects in Juneau and the architect for the renovation project, said that the work scheduled and being completed in 2014 is under contract with Dawson Construction Company who is the construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC). The project involves primarily the demolition and structural work on the west side, the Main Street side, of the Capitol, as well as construction work on the in-fills, the alcoves in the courtyard. That work is going well and on schedule; most of the demolition work is done; they're doing the structural work in the alcoves and preparing for structural work on the west side. The request before Council today, prepared by Dawson Construction, is to increase the amount of work for this year by including the north end of the west wing in this year's project. It was not initially scheduled for this year, but because things are going along well, there is the opportunity to include that work this year. Mr. Jensen said there were a couple of the reasons for this proposal: (1) it decreases the amount of work yet to be done on the project, and there is a lot of work slated in 2015 and 2016 and anything that can be done to accelerate the schedule lessens the amount of work yet to be done; (2) the masonry contractor who will be installing all the brick and the finish work on the west side of the building has said that it would be better if there wasn't demolition work going on immediately adjacent to their work next year. This request would prevent that potential adjacency problem by moving the demolition and construction seismic work around to the courtyard rather than immediately adjacent to the west side of the building. He said that after reviewing the costs, he believes it to be a reasonable cost proposal to do this work; it's a proactive proposal by the construction manager/general contractor to accelerate the work which may make things smoother for next year. He said they recommend this proposal and made himself available for questions. REPRESENTATIVE PRUITT said that before construction started, we did not know what to expect. He asked what has been learned, is it better than what we feared and what has been the experience so far. NOTE: There were technical difficulties with the audio due to Mr. Jensen using a cell phone during his testimony. The written record reflects only the clearly identifiable testimony of Mr. Jensen. MR. JENSEN said that they have found that the general construction is in pretty good shape. He said all of the brick and stone was removed from one side of the building. The demolition work has gone very well this summer. The concrete frame that was exposed is in good shape, so the concrete in the building is in good shape. They found some discrepancy in the plumbness of the building, that the concrete was out of plumb a little bit, but not beyond reason and they were able to deal with that. All in all, things have gone well. That's one of the reasons for the proposal to increase the amount of work for this year. Mr. Jensen, in response to a question from Senator Meyer, confirmed that the work scheduled for next year includes the courtyard work and as much of the east wing as possible. The following year (2016) would include the remainder of the east th wing and all of the front of the building, the 4 Street side. SENATOR EGAN, at the request of both Senator Meyer and Chair Hawker for an "on-site inspection report", said he commended Wayne Jensen, Building Manager Jeff Goodell, and Dawson Construction. He said they have been great people to work with and the contractors work really well. They are doing yeoman's work, trying to keep noise to a minimum, and there are still public tours of the building every day. Everything has worked very, very well and he said he was very impressed. He said he recommends Wayne's suggestion. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he just wanted on record that we are still within the procurement code and wanted to make sure there didn't need to be another RFP issued for this proposal. PAM VARNI, Executive Director for the Legislative Affairs Agency, said that the Agency just needs to do an amendment to the contract to do this additional work. Legal Services has looked at it and has fully vetted this proposed amendment, which is in each member's packet. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON followed up to say that if he understands the scope of the work, Council is basically being asked to move money from the future to today in order to get a head start; they're really not adding any money to the project, we're just shifting the year in which it would be used. Chair Hawker confirmed that was correct. CHAIR HAWKER asked that Doug Gardner please put himself on record and provide a response to Representative Johnson's question related to procurement procedures. DOUG GARDNER, Director of Legal Services, said Legal participated extensively in the drafting of the proposed contract and, as an update, the original contract contemplated at the end of this construction season that Dawson would provide numbers for the rest of the project. This construction season would see work on the Main Street side primarily and the rest of the project as it's scheduled. The entire job was done with the way point in the middle for better pricing once site conditions were better understood. This contract always contemplated the remainder of the pricing and the job being completed. He said he was very comfortable that the procurement procedures in AS 36.30 are being complied with. As Ms. Varni said, Council needs to decide whether they want to jump on the opportunity right now and spend some of that money now and get ahead. He said Council needs to authorize or not authorize an amendment at this time, but either way, Council will be within their authority. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON said he also wanted to know about timing and that we're not getting into the legislative session by extending this. He wanted to know if this would be done prior to the start of the legislative session. NOTE: There were technical difficulties with the audio due to Mr. Jensen using a cell phone during his testimony. The written record reflects only the clearly identifiable testimony of Mr. Jensen. MR. JENSEN said that the intent is for the work to be completed this year in October or early November as originally anticipated. It will all be completed and everything removed prior to the legislative session; then gear up again at the end of the legislative session for work in 2015. In response to Chair Hawker's efforts to get an answer despite the technical difficulties, Mr. Jensen confirmed the answer to Representative Johnson's question was yes. REPRESENTATIVE JOHNSON asked if there was a possible cost savings in this proposal. MR. JENSEN said the biggest advantage is that it will save time. It may save some money, but he can't say that for sure; but the potential is there. SENATOR STEVENS said he had a chance to be in Juneau and Jeff Goodell took him on a tour of the construction. He said the skeleton of the building is amazing; they built it so long ago and it's just slightly out of plumb. He asked if he understood Mr. Jensen to be saying that there would be no demolition next year. MR. JENSEN responded that there would be demolition next year, it just wouldn't be immediately adjacent to the new brickwork that will be going on next year. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG asked Mr. Jensen if this proposal was approved, was there any reasonable possibility that it would yield additional exposure of the interior construction during the winter and that might weaken the structure. MR. JENSEN said the interior of the building would not be exposed to the elements. The areas will be repaired to the same level as they are on the west side or there will be temporary construction in a small area that will prevent exposure to the elements. REPRESENTATIVE GRUENBERG then asked about the appropriation process and whether this proposal would require an additional appropriation in FY 15. MS. VARNI responded that the Legislature has capital money set aside and there are sufficient funds for this project. CHAIR HAWKER asked if there were any dissenters. Hearing and seeing none, he asked for a motion. 10:27:15 AM SENATOR MEYER moved that Legislative Council authorize the Chair to amend the contract entered into on April 24, 2014 by the Legislative Affairs Agency and Dawson Construction, Inc. for Alaska State Capitol Seismic Retrofit and Exterior Renovation Phase II to expand the scope of work and increase the contract amount in the amount of $650,000. CHAIR HAWKER requested a brief at ease to ensure Representative Chenault would be on teleconference for the vote, at his request. 10:32:01 AM CHAIR HAWKER noted that Representative Chenault was on line and that Council took the "at ease" to ensure Representative Chenault would be present for the vote, at his request. He repeated the motion for members. A roll call vote was taken. YEAS: Chenault, Gruenberg, Johnson, Pruitt, Coghill, Egan, Meyer, Stevens, Hawker NAYS: None The motion passed 9-0. There being no further business before the committee, the Legislative Council meeting was adjourned at 10:34 a.m. 10:34:09 AM