Cook County Community YMCA Project Manager Wade Cole of ORB Management asked the county board on September 10 for $70,000 of as-yet-uncommitted funds from the county’s 1 percent recreation and infrastructure sales tax budget in order to finish the project. He cited unexpected costs due to a contract dispute with The Meyer Group and re-design fees paid to JLG Architects after the building was downsized.
When you get a project of this size, Cole said, the architect’s drawings may be complete but what is included in those drawings may cover only about 90 percent of the costs.
Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk was opposed to taking any more money out of the remaining 1 percent funding. She said that they had found ways to save money throughout the project and wanted the project managers to figure out how to save more money now. “We’ve seen savings all along the way,” she said. “I say sit on it.”
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said that he wanted to save some of the 1 percent revenue for outdoor amenities such as a softball field and the tennis courts.
The board had been given a list of where contingency funds had been going and what had not yet been purchased. Commissioner Sue Hakes said she thought that the items on the list were things they would not want to leave out of the project, such as ductwork changes due to sauna modifications and volleyball sleeves (to hold poles).
Project Manager Cole said they were waiting on prices for 88 separate items, so the exact amount he anticipated needing was not known yet.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said he remembers Cole saying ORB comes in on budget 98 percent of the time. “When it doesn’t happen,” Gamble said, “it’s frustrating on many levels.”
Bids for the work came in much higher than expected, Cole said. His company has been advocating for the county’s benefit all along, he said.
This is a complicated project, Commissioner Hakes said. These things need to be done.
Commissioner Martinson reminded the board that about $60,000 of the cost of the project was for oversight by the state that the state originally told them would not be needed.
Part of the complexity of the project involves being adjacent to the ISD 166 school building, incorporating the school’s former west wing, and coming to agreements with the district on infrastructure issues. Cole said they moved an electric transformer into the school as agreed upon, but it makes a loud hum in a room the school had planned to use as a “quiet room.” They could build an insulating wall around the transformer, move it, or install a new one, but all of those solutions would cost money.
Cole said he would need to figure out how the project could move forward if the requested contingency funding was not approved.
They have to spend the money to get a quality facility, Commissioner Martinson said. If they took something out, such as the pool slide, a lot of people would be unhappy. They need some “wiggle room” to avoid slowing down the process, he said.
“I trust Wade with the $70,000 we’re about to add to the contingency,” said Commissioner Hakes.
Some projects can wait, Commissioner Doo-Kirk said, such as painting the custodial room, a projected cost of $550, or replacing the carpeting in the Jane Mianowski room, a projected cost of $5,000.
But if painters are already there, Commissioner Hakes said, it’s cheaper to have them do the work then.
Volunteers could paint the custodian’s room with leftover paint, Doo-Kirk said. “Wade’s been very good so far with juggling.”
Commissioner Hakes made a motion authorizing $70,000 from the 1 percent budget to be put into the contingency fund, and then amended that amount to $35,000. It failed by a vote of 2-3, with Commissioners Hakes and Martinson voting yes and Commissioners Doo-Kirk, Gamble, and Jan Hall voting no.
Drinking fountain
Commissioner Gamble gave his recommendation for installation of a water fountain near the tennis courts. The county purchased a freestanding unit but has had it in storage because they wanted to coordinate the work with the other work being done in the vicinity.
The county could avoid a $1,000 hookup fee to the city and a monthly service charge by installing a wall-mounted unit on the outside of the new YMCA. Wall-mounted units do not come with water bottle spigots at this time. Gamble said returning the fountain they already purchased would cost a 35 percent restocking fee, which means they would get $1,300 back out of an investment of about $2,000. The fountain could be handicap-accessible if they put in a slope to the curb near it.
The board discussed the fact that the curb at the end of the pathway leading from the current Community Center and between the two sets of courts does not end in a slope. People in wheelchairs could follow a new sidewalk to the curb slope outside the north set of courts, but to get to a fountain on the YMCA building, they might need to travel down the driveway between the courts and the Y.
The board decided to not install the fountain they had purchased but to find out the cost of installing a wall-mounted one onto the YMCA with a sloping curb leading to it. In addition, Commissioner Gamble will get quotes on improving the slope between the Community Center and the YMCA so that it is more handicap accessible.
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