Capital Development Board

This board oversees IL’s capital improvement program (think: physical improvement/replacement of state-owned infrastructure).

There’s a lot on the agenda for today, including several items regarding the construction of new education buildings across the state.

The biggest, though, the board is expected to move forward with a $105 million project to construct a new Health Sciences Building for Southern Illinois University.

https://www.thetelegraph.com/news/article/Work-progressing-on-105M-SIUE-Health-Sciences-15868366.php

.@illinoiscdb Chair Eileen Rhodes calls the meeting to order.

If you’d like to follow along, you may do so at this link:

https://illinois.webex.com/webappng/sites/illinois/dashboard?siteurl=illinois

Meeting ID: 177-976-0541
Password: CDB221

You may also call in at 312-535-8110.

Agenda: https://www2.illinois.gov/cdb/about/boardmeetings/Documents/2020-2021/Agenda%2002.09.2021.pdf

The meeting’s board booklet, which contains a good amount of basic info regarding today’s agenda items: https://www2.illinois.gov/cdb/about/boardmeetings/Documents/2020-2021/Public%20Board%20Book%20February%209%2C%202021.pdf

The minutes from the @illinoiscdb December meeting are approved. We move onto board action.

First item on the agenda is an order to create pathways at the Marseilles Army Training Center. It is approved.

The second item seems innocent enough; it’s about an update to the fire alarm and sprinkler system at the Illinois State Museum. The Board is handing out a single bid for the contract.

There was some delay, though, in handling the logistical end of this contract. Chairwoman Rhodes said this took three months to move forward and is asking if that delay is indicative of a staffing shortage.

She seems concerned that the CDB will not be able to handle increased demand as more infrastructure projects get off the ground.

There’s some back-and-forth with Executive Chief of Staff Tamakia Edwards. Edwards says they will be looking into this.

There’s a vote on the item. The contract is approved.

That brings us to our next item. I’m excited for this one.

A contractor constructing a student services/adult education center at the College of Lake County accidentally encountered an entire basement in the construction process.

https://t.co/oYgmq31vRn

The plot of land that was allotted for this student services center was, previously, a parking lot.

As construction workers began digging, they discovered a 60x60 foundation. The contractor believes it was built in the 1950s as part of a police or fire department.

This was a surprise to the contractors. A $200,000 surprise, as they are now asking for funding that will help them deal with disposal of debris and contaminated soil.

Chairwoman Rhodes wanted to know if the contractor rep felt like missing an entire basement was indicative of poor planning on their part. She asks what kind of pre-digging they did on the lot.

“I think it’s kind of hard to miss a whole basement,” Rhodes says.

Rhodes is told that it’s “possibly” indicative” of a greater design issue, but the rep added that they did some pre-emptive digging. No signs of a basement was found, we’re told.

Chairwoman Rhodes asks a clarifying question.

What’s the difference between a Proceed Order and a Change order?

Excuse me while I swoon at a public official who’s not afraid to ask for public explanations concerning governing processes.

Anyway. As it turns out, a proceed order, which is what’s being requested here, is done when contractors are pressed for time. Change orders are more thorough and are done if time is not a real factor.

Here, the contractor has equipment that’s ready to go and clear out this basement debris. All his team needs is the green light. Time is of the essence, he argues.

The Board votes and approves the Proceed Order for Legat Architects to move ahead clearing out the surprise basement.

We move ahead with much less discussion on the next few items. A $4.3 million project to improve grounds and retention pond at the College of DuPage is approved.

A $6.7 million project to replace a parking lot, roadways and a walkway at Morton Community College is also approved.

The top recommendation for the Morton Community College is Primera Engineers of Chicago, which CDB official Brent Lance says is a non-minority woman-owned business.

Moving on to staff recommendations of Architect/Engineers.

This section pertains to four projects, for which the @illinoiscdb received 68 submittals. Lance says that one-third of those were from new minority-, women- and veteran-owned businesses.

The larger chunk of that was from minority-owned businesses (MBEs). Lance says that, for these projects, the majority of MBE submittals came from Hispanic-owned firms. Asian-owned firms accounted for the second-most, and African-American firms accounted for 10 percent.

I hear these stats thrown out at lots of meetings, but I’m curious what happens with all of this data.

Has someone compiled a breakdown of who gets contracts in the state, county, and city? Will local government be studying the ‘why’ behind these numbers at some point?

Moving on. The staff recommends the board awards Affiliated Engineers, of Chicago, the $30.6 million contract construct an addition to the Treatment and Detention Facility at Schuyler County’s Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility.

CDB staff recommends that Kuhn & Trello Consulting Engineers, which is a veteran-owned firm, be awarded the contract to resurface a parking lot at Camp Lincoln down in Springfield.

$1 million contract

Holabird & Root is recommended to receive a contract to construct a new campus facility over at @HarperCollege.

It’s an $87 million contract (IL’s on the hook for $42 million) for a student center that will also include hospitality lab + instructional space.

Another university improvement is up next. @eiu will construct a new science building. In total it will cost more than $118 million, but it’s only running the @illinoiscdb $11,883,500.

Recommended firm is Hanson Professional Services, of Springfield.

Following Lance’s rundown, Rhodes had a slew of policy/process questions.

What are the differences between commissioning services and Architect/Engineer services?

What is the rationale behind doing Design/Build projects instead of the usual way? Who makes that decision?

She also wants to know why there was only an MBE/WBE goal of 20 percent, whereas other projects are at 25 percent. Why weren’t we more aggressive in setting our goals on this project, she asks.

Lance tries to answer the first question about commissioning services vs. architect/engineer projects. His answer’s a bit hard to follow (for me, at least).

Tamakia Edwards, who, again, is chief of staff for @illinoiscdb steps in and clears it up.

When the contract is for commissioning services, Edwards says, it basically means that you have an independent agent who will verify the quality of work being done by the architect and the engineer (A/E)

Edwards: “Not to bash the A/Es, but if the A/E is designing it…their interest is to say, ‘I designed it properly.’ The contractor will say, ‘I constructed it properly.’

The commissioning agent is an independent agent who will verify both of those claims.

Edwards adds that Commissioning Services are done when you have really large infrastructure projects, such as this @eiu science building, in order to protect the owner’s interest.

Commissioning agents do this verification even after the project is complete.

Very down for the in-depth descriptions of these processes.

Lance adds that the vendor pool for commissioning services is relatively small, which he says we’ll see as we move forward with the next item.

Rhodes: “Brent, you’re still avoiding my question about why you won’t explain Design-Build to me.”

A few laughs from folks as Lance offers a few reason why design-build projects are good. He says that the design/build can be quicker than the design-bid-build process.

Rhodes asks if Lance can recall whether the @illinoiscdb has ever finished any design/build projects where it turned out that this process was clearly the better way to go.

Lance says none have been finished since he’s joined the CDB. His first design/build project was the Joliet Inpatient Treatment Center, which he says has been moving forward and is on schedule despite COVID.

Rhodes: “For my benefit, when you present a design/build project, it would be good to have a two-sentence rationale for why it was done that way as opposed to the traditional way.”

Lance: Ok.

So, I guess, watch out for those two-sentence descriptions going forward.

So this was a long way to get to board members voting on these projects.

We’re looking at an addition to a treatment and detention facility in Schuyler County, a parking lot resurfacing at Camp Lincoln, and two campus projects at @HarperCollege and @eiu.

All items are carried and will move forward.

Next up are three commissioning services contract proposals.

As Lance alluded to, we’re seeing some of the same firms pop up for multiple items. He adds that only 11 firms submitted—none of them were women-owned, and three were minority-owned.

First up is a contract to construct a central computing facility for the Department of Central Management Services. Chicago’s IMEG is the top recommendation for this $80.5 million contract.

Next up is the Health Sciences Building set to be constructed at @SIUE. The recommended firm is Farnsworth Group. Contract is just over $105 million.

The final contract in this bunch is one for the construction of a Library Learning Student Success Center at @UISedu, and the recommended firm is Nest Builders, which Lance says is a Hispanic-owned firm from Chicago. Contract is $35 million.

I’m not sure if the state recognizes a difference in Latinx-owned firms versus Hispanic-owned firms. But their language has always been Hispanic-owned. In case anyone was wondering.

Prior to taking a vote, Rhodes calls back to her earlier concern that the state doesn’t have enough staff to meet the demand from all of these new construction projects.

Now the vote. All items are approved.

Next section is “Best Interest of the State.” Items: https://t.co/b8VJY90d0D

Of the selected firms, Lance notes that Globetrotters Engineering is an Asian-owned business.

Doesn’t look like we’ll be hearing a vote on these items yet. Instead, Lance moves along to the Emergency Selection projects.

These emergency projects consist of roof repairs at the coach house of the Springfield Executive Mansion, as well as emergency elevator renovations at the Chicago Medical Center Office and Laboratory Building.

Lance moves onto the Small Contract Selection. Only one item here: the replacement of 14,700 square feet of roofing at the IL State Police District 1 Headquarters.

The selected firm is StudioK Architecture, which is a new WBE. Lance says is the first contract between @illinoiscdb and StudioK.

Next up: COVID-19 Emergency Project proceed order/change order reports.

The only item concerns the storage, hauling, re-hauling and crane work for materials that were delivered to a work site during a state-mandated break as IL tried to figure out how to work safely w/ COVID.

Order calls for just over $600,000.

Lance says this is the only significant restart cost the @illinoiscdb incurred. Rhodes asks how the state’s workers have fared, health-wise.

Lance reports that under one percent of the state’s workforce has had COVID and there have been no deaths.

Last item on the public agenda concerns the demolition, and construction, of a Litchfield weigh station. It came in under budget by about $100,000, so this report simply reflects that.

Rhodes tries to move the meeting into executive session, but is reminded there needs to be public comment (!) first.

No one is present for public comment, so the meeting moved to executive session.

Upon return from executive session, an @illinoiscdb official said the session was informational only and that no decisions were made.

With that, Chairwoman Rhodes motioned to adjourn the meeting. At 12:11 p.m., the meeting adjourned!

And that’s another thread in the books for me, y’all.

Thanks for following along for what proved to be a weirdly in-depth and informational meeting if you love learning about government processes. I hope you enjoyed the thread.

Be sure to follow @CHIdocumenters for the rest of the week’s public hearings and government action. We certainly appreciate all of the support y’all give Documenters and @city_bureau, so thanks for that! Till next time.