[0:00] Okay.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
[0:02] welcome to the City Benton Door for a
special City Council meeting. It is
[0:05] Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. It's 5:00
p.m. Michelle, would you please call the
[0:10] roll?
>> Naman?
[0:11] » Here.
>> Jaeger?
[0:12] » Here.
>> Brown? [clears throat]
[0:13] » Here.
>> Flaherty?
[0:14] » Here.
>> Sexauer?
[0:15] » Here.
>> Baden?
[0:16] » Here.
>> Palensky?
[0:17] » Here.
>> Thank you all for being here and for
[0:19] attending our groundbreaking at 4:00 for
the police station, which is why we are
[0:24] here tonight. We do have a resolution
and before we take that resolution up, I
[0:27] welcome our city engineer, Brent
Moorlock, for a little explanation of
[0:31] what is happening this evening. Brent,
you have the floor.
[0:34] » Thank you, Your Honor.
Um yes, as you said, we had a great
[0:37] groundbreaking and we will have the
first of what's most likely just going
[0:41] to be two resolutions uh awarding
recommending award of all the
[0:46] subcontracts for this project. Um we had
a bid opening actually in this room. We
[0:50] had an old-school physical bid opening,
first one we've had in a long time,
[0:53] uh a week ago with the first four bid
packages. There's going to be a total of
[0:57] 12 bid packages for the various trades
for the projects. So, a little unlike
[1:01] what you're used to seeing from our
typical bids where
[1:04] uh you've got a single general
contractor,
[1:07] um you know, line item bidding, that
kind of thing. This is a little
[1:09] different because obviously we have
Estes already under contract as our
[1:13] construction manager.
They will hold all the contracts, so
[1:16] they will hold all the sub agreements.
Um the construction manager risk law,
[1:20] the chapter 26A Iowa code, is a little
unclear
[1:24] uh as to whether or not the city's
actually need to hold a uh or have a
[1:28] formal award of contract. We chose to
kind of have the belts and suspenders
[1:32] method uh that Chris has referenced at
times. So, we're going to go ahead and
[1:35] and have a resolution recommending award
of these subcontracts, at which point
[1:39] Estes will then issue the the actual
contracts and uh
[1:42] » [clears throat]
>> once we get the remaining eight bid
[1:44] packages, which are going to go out uh I
believe this week,
[1:48] um then we'll consider them in about 3
weeks. Once those come back,
[1:53] hopefully that same council meeting, we
would recommend award of those
[1:56] subcontracts, and then we would also
bring back the amendment to our
[1:59] agreement with Estes, which will
establish the
[2:02] maximum guaranteed maximum price. So,
that's the construction manager risk
[2:06] portion.
So, all new things that we're we're
[2:08] learning a new process. It's only been
legal in Iowa for a little over a year
[2:13] or two at this point. So, the four bid
packages that we did send out early, we
[2:17] call them early release packages cuz the
final design is still
[2:20] at that point was still being finalized,
but those packages were ready. They were
[2:24] identified by Estes as being the most
volatile given the bidding market.
[2:29] They're pretty typical. Usually, you'll
the only other one you might see other
[2:33] than what we had sometimes is the
electrical gear, which actually has been
[2:37] pretty normal about getting anymore,
which is good. That was a COVID era
[2:40] problem.
We did that for example on the landing
[2:42] project. We had an early release package
to
[2:45] secure [clears throat] the electrical
switch gear.
[2:48] We had four packages. We had the site
work and utilities package. We had the
[2:51] concrete site concrete.
We had the structural masonry, and then
[2:55] we also had the precast concrete and
steel
[2:58] erection and
supply of those.
[3:01] We'll start with the site work and
utilities. We had three site bidders for
[3:05] that. KE Flatwork, a company out of
Eldridge,
[3:09] does a lot of work in in Bettendorf, has
built several subdivisions, several
[3:12] streets.
They were the low bid at 759,375.
[3:18] That was nearly $600,000 under budget.
The next two low bidders
[3:24] were about 400 and 450,000 higher than
that, so it was a great bid. I think as
[3:29] we put in the council letter, Estes has
performed
[3:33] some actual interviews with all the low
bidders to make sure that everything
[3:37] they had in their bid scope was
included.
[3:39] Just similar to what we would do with
our normal unit pricing, review
[3:42] everything.
KE confirmed that, so we got a great
[3:45] number there.
Site concrete, we had six bidders.
[3:50] Really good numbers. Concrete numbers
were were still a little high, but they
[3:52] were all very consistent, however. Uh
Centennial Contractors of the Quad
[3:55] Cities out of Moline was the low bidder
for that. Uh they were a little over
[4:00] $200,000 over the estimate on that
project or that bid package. Uh
[4:06] structural masonry only had two bidders,
which is something we're seeing more and
[4:10] more in the area. There are not a lot of
masons left. Um so the the
[4:14] competition is getting pretty steep.
That came in about $200,000 over Estes's
[4:19] estimate. Um again, most likely because
of staff availability. Uh masons just uh
[4:24] aren't
aren't available. Uh and then the last
[4:27] package is the precast and steel. Uh had
three bidders. Uh Peak Construction out
[4:32] of Cedar Rapids, I believe. Estes said
they've worked with them. They're a a
[4:35] smaller general contractor that
sometimes acts as a GC, but does a lot
[4:39] of uh precast and steel work. Um that
number came in about $300,000 over
[4:44] estimate. So, as you can see, three of
the four uh came in under, the one came
[4:49] in quite a bit three of the four came in
over, excuse me. One came in quite a bit
[4:52] under. Our net for these four bids uh
was just $86,000 uh over budget or
[4:58] approximately 1.45%.
Um we're carrying currently uh two
[5:03] separate contingencies, but for a total
budget amount of a little over 1.5
[5:07] million. Um
believe we've kind of explained to you
[5:10] before, but if we haven't, we started
with uh design contingency. They start
[5:14] pretty high when you're at the beginning
of the design cuz you're estimating. You
[5:18] don't have the any real design to start
working off of, and then as you get done
[5:22] with say schematic design and we move
into design development. Then design
[5:25] development into final design, you keep
narrowing those numbers down, tightening
[5:29] up your budget cuz you have regular
design uh now concluded and your
[5:33] estimating gets a lot more accurate. Uh
and then we always carry a construction
[5:36] budget or construction contingency as
part of that budget as well. Um so I
[5:39] think we're still sitting really well.
Um
[5:42] so we reduced that 1.
58
[5:47] number. Yeah, 1.586 take that down by
the 86,000 you're still at 1.5 million.
[5:53] They got in contingencies and the
review that we had had back from Estes
[5:58] is they feel very comfortable with the
remaining trades
[6:01] from the other projects that they've
been seeing. They see good number of
[6:03] bidders.
You know, that's going to be your
[6:05] electrical, your HVAC, your plumbing.
It's it's actually a little more
[6:09] probably the systems are a little more
complex but they're actually easier to
[6:11] bid because it's things that you're used
to seeing on all of their projects.
[6:15] Um
Also included with the packet was kind
[6:19] of an overall bid budget summary.
A lot of things on there that you
[6:25] generally speaking you guys wouldn't see
as a part of a normal city project. A
[6:29] lot of allowances, things that that are
part of the agreement with Estes.
[6:33] Um the big thing I wanted to point out
to two of them um at the bottom of the
[6:38] total project cost you can see where it
estimated 26.99 million.
[6:42] Um there's a lot of estimates still in
there.
[6:45] Um you know, the bond issuance cost
depending on the total soft so soft ta
[6:50] cost. I'm saying that again soft cost
contingency.
[6:54] That's going to be a lot of the owner
provided items. We're still carrying
[6:58] um
firing range allowance which we're
[7:00] hoping to that that can stay in the the
project itself.
[7:03] Um one item I did want to point out at
the very end there is we have a added
[7:06] city funding portion of the north
parking lot $200,000. So the main
[7:12] parking for well actually the only
parking for visitors for this project
[7:16] will be basically exactly where the
current seal coat parking lot is for
[7:20] that baseball diamond Lone Devils Glen.
Um that'll be all the rear parking for
[7:24] staff um is is all part of the project.
But that main north-south parking lot
[7:29] uh
we have to remove the existing one.
[7:32] We're also [clears throat] roughly
doubling the size of it because we need
[7:35] to still maintain some for the park once
the project is done. Uh but then
[7:39] obviously add parking cuz on the south
end closer to the building for the PD
[7:44] and and visitors there.
So, we didn't feel like the portion of
[7:47] the parking lot that we're rebuilding,
that will be mainly parks, really should
[7:52] be attributed to the project. We didn't
feel like that necessarily should come
[7:54] out of referendum monies. So, that
200,000 is an annual
[7:58] you'll remember CIP project that we do.
We just awarded this year's was the
[8:02] middle park parking lot. So, it's funded
at $200,000 annually. So, the intent
[8:06] would be that next year we would
dedicate that $200,000 to this portion
[8:10] of the park parking lot. Uh it's a sales
tax item that we
[8:14] routinely well, annually rebuild city
parking lots using. We've done several
[8:18] in Crow Creek Park. Uh we've done City
Hall with that. We're going to probably
[8:21] do public works the year after. Um we're
doing the middle park parking lot this
[8:25] year.
So, that is included in there. If our
[8:28] remaining budget numbers come back
differently, obviously we could see if
[8:31] council feels differently on it, but we
wanted to identify it right now um
[8:35] before those uh remaining eight bid
packages come back.
[8:39] So, with that, I would ask, do you have
any questions on the four packages?
[8:42] » Thank you, Brian. Any questions?
>> You're on mute.
[8:44] » Yeah, just please.
>> Just clear something up really quickly.
[8:47] Thank you to the Councilmember Flaherty.
There is a scrivener's error that I just
[8:51] want to point out in the resolution.
It's uh in subsection four, um the peak
[8:57] construction bid, that's actually bid
package D. It's in conformity with the
[9:04] the [clears throat] the recitals of the
resolution as well as the the council
[9:08] letter, but I just want to make that
that clear for the record that we will
[9:12] we will fix that.
[9:16] » I'll fix it.
>> We can either do a motion or we can just
[9:18] have the scrivener's error noted in the
record and we'll we'll fix it.
[9:21] » Let's go questions, and then we'll going
to I'll entertain a motion to change
[9:26] the resolution that we're changing.
And we'll and then we will
[9:31] tackle the resolution for Councilmember
Baden. So, questions for Brian.
[9:34] Brian.
>> Thank you, Your Honor. Just very
[9:36] briefly,
Looking at the page that shows early bid
[9:41] packages as bid. Which is probably right
at the very end of our packet of
[9:46] materials.
Do I understand that total project costs
[9:50] are shown as 26 991315?
>> Correct.
[9:55] » So that's your expected total project
costs. Does that include the contingency
[10:00] of the 1.5?
>> It does.
[10:02] » Okay. So there's another page somewhere
that would show the contingency.
[10:06] » It's It's actually under the
construction subtotal.
[10:10] Uh there's a construction contingency
and a bid contingency.
[10:14] » Okay.
>> They are one two lines three and four.
[10:17] » Okay. So those two total the 1.5.
>> Yes.
[10:21] » Thank you. And then you say there are
owner carried items. What What does that
[10:26] mean?
>> Uh so there's some items we're going to
[10:28] bring forward an agreement probably in a
couple weeks. Um so like furniture for
[10:33] example is something generally speaking
we won't bid with a general contractor.
[10:38] So we'll actually go out and source that
ourselves. It's part of the overall
[10:41] project cost. But we'll do it outside of
Estes. So Ray for example is going to
[10:46] solicit two or three interior designers
to help us do the work and then uh
[10:50] they're they're all um the purchasing
co-ops. So whether it's state bid or
[10:54] Omni partners or Source well or
whatever. Uh we'll buy directly from
[10:58] them. So those are some of the items and
some of the security stuff too.
[11:01] » Could be that line that says furnishings
and fixed equipment allowance?
[11:04] » Yes.
>> Okay. I got you. Thank you.
[11:07] » Other questions?
Scott?
[11:08] » Thank you, Honor. Um so
maybe we'll [clears throat] need a
[11:11] little bit
of extra explanation about the for
[11:16] example in your packet the project 80
0039 approved for a maximum cost in the
[11:22] referendum of 27 million dollars, right?
And then when you when you just went
[11:27] through the construction management at
risk process that we then get all this
[11:31] back to come up with a guaranteed
maximum price. So, can you speak to how
[11:36] we make sure that we're as we're
collectively trying to protect the
[11:39] taxpayers' trust and so forth that we're
aware of okay. What do you mean get?
[11:45] » The guaranteed maximum price is a
I would say a a little bit of a gray
[11:49] area. Uh the process doesn't seem as
intuitive as it should be because you
[11:53] don't actually establish the guaranteed
maximum price until all these
[11:57] uh subcontracts have come back. So,
if you're probably not familiar with it
[12:02] and we weren't that familiar with it
either, you might think originally that
[12:05] when we hired SS that without any of
that design or anything up front, they
[12:09] would have to guarantee that what we
want to settle on is going to be at 27
[12:14] million. You have to get through the
full project. You design it. Basically,
[12:17] what that'll protect us from is if
there's anything missing in their bid
[12:20] packages, for example, we are not on the
hook for that.
[12:24] Um if they
missed a portion of the concrete or they
[12:27] miss electrical something or an HVC
piece is not specified, if it's an error
[12:31] on their part, they are on the hook to
take care of that overage.
[12:34] If we decide to change something during
the design collectively, that's still on
[12:39] us. So, it's it's really once you get
your bid packages established, get all
[12:43] the final design, that's where you set
it and then we work from there.
[12:47] » And there are things that you just
mentioned like owner provided and and I
[12:51] just wonder uh like what's our history
or do we feel like we have to go out and
[12:55] use Bray or third-party design cuz
everyone going to want a piece.
[12:59] Obviously, there are things like hey, we
know we we've got a good working
[13:02] relationship with these, you know,
furnishing folks, be it furniture or
[13:06] whatever.
I mean
[13:08] » There
I think on the interior design, um a lot
[13:12] of their fees tend to get built into
their pricing.
[13:14] Um
and given how much furniture we have to
[13:17] outfit this building, I think we will
want to use. Um it's going to be one of
[13:21] three, I think that we identified which
is either Paragon,
[13:24] uh Pigott
Pigott or Workspace, I think is the
[13:28] third we to be called right.
But there's some stuff that Captain
[13:31] Champion for example has been handling
on our security and it's we're dealing
[13:35] directly with the vendors. It's same
guys that we've used for however long.
[13:40] There's no third party there.
>> Great. Thank you. Thank you, Your Honor.
[13:42] You're back. Other questions?
Jerry got my attention then we'll go
[13:46] Connor and anybody else and Nick.
>> Thank you, Your Honor.
[13:50] So, who inspects this project?
Estes or or you or both?
[13:56] » Yeah, they'll still have to go through
all of our normal building procedures.
[13:59] So, our building department will be the
inspectors.
[14:02] My staff will handle all of the exterior
work. So, they will handle the concrete,
[14:07] the
site density test, that kind of stuff
[14:10] that the civil work that we're used to.
Our building department will require all
[14:14] the normal inspections that they have to
carry.
[14:17] And then a building of this size
actually has some special inspections as
[14:21] well. So, there is some like testing
services line item in there where we'll
[14:25] have to hire a third party to do some
specialized testing that's required by
[14:28] international building code.
>> Who pays the bills? Does Jason pay the
[14:33] bills or does Estes pay the bill and
then we pay Estes?
[14:37] » Yes. Yep. So, Estes will pay their
subcontractors and then they will submit
[14:41] their monthly bills to us and we pay
them.
[14:44] » So, if we decide that we miss something
that didn't get put in the package and
[14:49] need a change order,
we still have to stay within the 27
[14:53] million, correct?
>> Yep.
[14:55] Yeah, and that's why something like the
construction contingency line item
[14:59] that's in there because there's going to
be things on on a project this complex
[15:03] there there'll be something that comes
up. So, that's where we want to make
[15:06] sure we're able to carry a solid
contingency still under the 27 million
[15:10] that's already included in that budget
number.
[15:13] » And if you end up real close, is it
possible that that parking lot,
[15:19] the north part of it,
ends up being, what I say deleted from
[15:24] from from Estes and we live with what's
there now?
[15:28] » Well, so what's there now is going to
all be ripped out. So we were actually
[15:33] as part of this we're extending quite a
bit further north
[15:36] because the I would say the south half
of the proposed lot
[15:40] we would dedicate as strictly to the
police department and it's about the
[15:43] size of what's there now. Um
we'd still like to provide something for
[15:47] the park. So if for some reason if
numbers are really bad, yes, we'd live
[15:51] without it and come back at you know
following year under a city CIP number
[15:55] and do it then.
>> Thank you.
[15:59] » Conner.
>> Yeah, thank you your honor. Um so we've
[16:02] got 14.7 million left. What's your
confidence level seeing that spring
[16:08] that spread from -45 to over 90?
Yeah, they're a little concerning.
[16:14] » Like we said the the remaining bid
packages are carpentry, electrical,
[16:18] HVAC. Um
even if we think back to the kind of you
[16:23] were in the city here but the landing
project that stuff was was really locked
[16:26] in. It was always the those one-off kind
of things
[16:30] like the precast for example that was
really high.
[16:33] It's just something you don't see a lot
of. The precast and the steel numbers
[16:36] could fluctuate.
Concrete numbers I
[16:40] not quite sure where their estimate on
that one was. It's a you know came in a
[16:43] couple hundred K high.
We had six bidders. I think they were
[16:47] all union guys which should also could
could lead to it. Um
[16:51] Um you don't see a lot of site work
going on. So I'm not quite sure on on
[16:55] staff availability but those ones those
HVAC, electrical there's not a lot of
[16:59] large building projects going on in the
Quad Cities. So I think those numbers
[17:02] are going to be where where we need them
to be. And there is most likely going to
[17:05] be a fair amount of um
some work that Estes will be able to
[17:09] self-perform.
Now when they self-perform they have to
[17:12] actually bid that project. So they did
they actually bid on the precast number
[17:16] for example.
For them to furnish and install that and
[17:20] they were just a hair higher than
subcontractor. But I think that always
[17:25] if you have the ability to do the self
perform work you always stand a chance
[17:29] of maybe getting a little better number
since their staff is already on site.
[17:32] » Okay. Thank you.
Nick, did you have something?
[17:36] » Uh, it's been asked and answered. Thank
you, your honor.
[17:38] » You bet. Anybody else? Jerry?
>> Another question. Will there be a impact
[17:43] agreement with uh, the contractors and
the labor unions?
[17:47] » There will not be.
[17:51] » Any other questions?
Okay, first I'd like to entertain a
[17:54] motion that we revise the resolution at
number four so that it reads the bid of
[18:00] Peak Construction is hereby accepted for
bid package D as in dog in the amount of
[18:06] $2,498,000.
[18:09] » So moved.
>> Second.
[18:11] » Any discussion?
Michelle, please call the roll.
[18:15] » Namen.
>> Aye.
[18:16] » Jaeger.
>> Aye.
[18:17] » Brown.
>> Aye.
[18:18] » Flarity.
>> Aye.
[18:19] » Sexer.
>> Aye.
[18:20] » Baden.
>> Aye.
[18:21] » Pelzinski.
>> Aye.
[18:22] » All right, we unanimously approve that
revision. Thanks for catching it.
[18:27] And let's move to the resolution for
Council member Baden to present.
[18:30] » Ooh, thank you, your honor. I have a
resolution directing Estes Construction
[18:34] to award subcontracts for the bid
packages A, B, C, and D for the
[18:40] Bettendorf Police Station project. I
move approval of the resolution.
[18:45] » Second.
>> Any discussion?
[18:49] Okay, Michelle, would you please call
the roll?
[18:50] » Namen.
>> Aye.
[18:51] » Jaeger.
>> Aye.
[18:52] » Brown.
>> Aye.
[18:53] » Flarity.
>> Aye.
[18:55] » Sexer.
>> Aye.
[18:56] » Baden.
>> Aye.
[18:57] » Pelzinski.
>> Aye.
[18:58] » All right, we unanimously pass the first
four bid packages. Fantastic. Thank you,
[19:02] Mr. Morlock. I'd like to entertain a
motion to adjourn.
[19:07] » So moved.
>> Second.
[19:09] » Thank you. We stand adjourned.
Everybody, good work.
[19:13] Thanks for all being at the
>> Brent.
[19:15] » uh