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HomeMy WebLinkAboutJULY 20, 2015CITY OF JEFFERSONVILLE COMMON COUNCIL WORKSHOP 500 QUARTERMASTER COURT, ROOM 101 5:30 P.M. The Common Council of the City of Jeffersonville met in a workshop on Monday, July 20, 2015. Council President Gill called the meeting to order at 5:33 pm and on the roll call members present were: Councilperson Smith, Councilperson Wadsworth, Councilperson Sellers, Councilperson Julius, Councilperson Owen and Councilperson Samuel. Councilperson Webb and Councilperson Zastawny were absent at the time of roll call. Councilperson Zastawny joined the workshop at 5:38 PM APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA: Councilperson Owen made the motion to APPROVED, seconded by Councilperson Samuels passing on a vote of 7-0. AGENDA ITEM: Andy Crouch — Honeywell Energy Efficiency Contract for Municipality City Engineer, Andy Crouch introduced Honeywell representative James Zellman for his presentation. Mr. Zellman stated he had met briefly with Council President Gill and Councilperson Zastawny two weeks ago to go over an energy usage assessment and he was at the workshop to present the findings of the assessment and discuss the next steps and time line for the project if it is approved. Mr. Zellman explained this is a performance contract as opposed to a bid procurement and that the energy and operations savings can be leveraged to reduce capital cost of replacing/retrofitting aging infrastructure critical to building operations. Mr. Zellman stated that Honeywell performed these assessments at no up cost to the City and he believed there was major room for improvement to save the City money in future energy usage and that Honeywell guarantees that energy usage will decrease and covers the difference if performance is not at the level outlined in the contract. Mr. Zellman went over current energy costs by the city. In 2014 and 2015 cost fluctuated between 1.4 and 1.5 million dollars. Mr. Zellman outlined the different accounts registered by the city. There were over 170 different energy accounts all with separate bills. Honeywell representative Scott Brown . explained that every one of these accounts has an associated service fee and that if combined to a major account it could save the City a noticeable amount of money. Scott also stated that there were large meters used at the Aquatic Center to heat the pool and the City does not heat the pool so the meter could actually be downgraded to a smaller version associated with a lesser charge. Mr. Brown stated things like this are just a few of the way that the contract could save the City money. Mr. Zellman and Mr. Brown went on to outline all of the city street lights (very few are actually owned by the city, most are owned by the utility company) and the stop lights. They stated that by simply changing all of the building and lighting to LED it could save the City a substantial amount of energy usage (essentially cutting down on energy costs). Mr. Brown stated that in February of 2015, Honeywell Representatives met with the Board of Works to conduct a city wide energy and infrastructure audit. This included a utility bill analysis, needs assessment and moved towards developing a project scope. This leads us to the energy savings estimate and project validation (why we are here today). There is not an upfront retainer or cost for the 1 assessments. The City had a lot of input on the projects. What Honeywell is requesting today is permission to go before the Board of Works to continue with the project. While there is no upfront cost, there is a $25,000 fee if the City grants the bid to Honeywell and then decides to not move forward with the project. The Council will have to approve the $25,000 before Honeywell can go in front of the Board of Works to request to move forward with a RPF. There were various questions presented by the Council throughout the presentation: Councilperson Smith wanted to know if there was an internal group of engineers, essentially is this a one stop shop for services? • Yes- Honeywell operates a team of specialized professions that work closely with the City to outline and determine the direction of the project and what is going to save the most money. Honeywell will subcontract if necessary, or will work with partners that have already been established by the City. Councilperson Julius asked how Honeywell profited from the project and inquired if it was by selling Honeywell's personal brand of product. • Honeywell will only pitch their products where it makes sense to do so. Sometimes if a building has good equipment manufactured by another company it does not make sense to pitch Honeywell products, so they work with what is already there ordering the necessary parts and replacing what is needed. However sometimes it does make sense to offer Honeywell products, for instance if a whole system is outdated and needs replaced. And if there are subcontractors that the City prefers to use they will cross reference other bids to make sure it is a competitive bid. Council President Gill asked if the City were to move forward, how does Honeywell prioritize projects? • The City will put together a Committee of impacted individual to outline the project. Honeywell works with the City to determine what the greatest need it and prioritizes the lists but at the end of the day it is up to the Committee to make the determinations. Sometimes these committees are made of Department Heads. This tends to be a good tactic because they know the ins and outs of how their departments work and what will work for their operational needs. Councilperson Wadsworth asked if the cost of energy production factors into this project. • Mr. Brown stated one of the first things that is done is getting the utility bills for the last 12 months and based off of usage (not cost) the base floor rate is determined then a 3% escalator can be added in to estimate monthly costs based off of the predicted usage rage. Honeywell guarantees KWH NOT utility cost. Councilperson Smith asked if Honeywell could assist the City with locating grants to help fund the project. • Honeywell will help in any area they can. They have professional relationships with companies across the US and can help by working with the City on getting all of the info that is needed in for the rebates so the City can get as much money back as possible. Councilperson Julius asked who typically oversees the project. • This can vary from the Street/ Sanitation Department to the City Seen Street department and the City Engineer. The outline will be presented at the Board of Works, and then to the City Council for approval of funding. Councilperson Smith asked if there was any additional information based on other communities. • Monroe County invested 3.2 million [they have an aging infrastructure and energy conscious] is saving them 158000 a year [about 24% of their energy budget]). There is quick savings in the beginning. 2 ADJOURNEMENT: Councilperson Zastawny made the motion to approve up to $25,000 for the RFP for the project with Councilperson Owen Seconding. The motion PASSED with a vote 8-0. Councilperson Smith then made a motion to ADJOURN, seconded by Councilperson Sellers passing on a vote of 8-0. Meeting adjourned at 6:39 P.M. APPROVED BY: ATT TED: Vicki Conlin 3