Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP August 28, 1978 ~ 01 ANDOVER SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL MEETING - AUGUST 28, 1978 MINUTES A Special Meeting of the Andover City Council was called to order by Mayor Jerry Windchitl on August 28, 1978, 7:38 p.m., at the Andover City Hall, 1685 Crosstown Boulevard NW, for the purpose of reviewing the legal requirements of having a registered .architectUt'al engineer certify plans and specifications for the public services building prior to going out for bids. Councilpersons present: Lachinski, McClure, Orttel, VanderLaan Councilpersons absent: None Also present: City Attorney, William G. Hawkins; City Clerk, p. K. Lindquist; and Members of the Building Committee Mayor Windschitl introduced the members of the Building Committee who were present, explained the procedures the Committee must follow, and reviewed the events that have taken place since the Council meeting last Wednesday relative to obtaining further information from those companies responding to the request for quotes for preparation of biddable plans and specs for the pUblic service building. Attorney Hawkins stated there is a State Statute that talks about City requirements for public buildings and who must prepare plans and specifications with regard to City structures that exceed in value of SlOO,OOO. Tbe Statute states that no person except an architect, engineer, and land surveyor who has been licensed by Minnesota law can practice architecture, prepare plans and specifications, and consult, investigate, and evaluate in connection with the making of plans and specs for the erection, enlargement, or alteration of any public building that exceeds SlOO,OOO. In his opinion, if the City is going to have plans and specs prepared for this project, they must be done by a registered architect or somebody under his direct supervisioñ. If any other person prepares plans and Specs for the City that is not registered, the law treats that contract as void and it is an illegal expenditure to the City to pay it. He also stated the area of definition becomes fuzzy between that of an architect and that of an engineer, as the architect deals with the application of design and asthetics and the engineer deals with mathematics and applied sciences utilizing those in drawing the plans and specs. So it is difficult as to wœther you Use a registered engineer or architect; but in any event~ the person has to be licensed by the State of Minnesota. Attorney Hawkins also stated there has been quite a bit of litigation on the width of specifications and how narrow you can draft them. One must look at every case individually as to whether the specs are so tightly drawn as to exclude other people from bidding and whether or not that violates the intent and spirit of municipal contracting law, which requires pUblic bidding over SlO,OOO. He cautioned the Council and the Building Committee from bidding plans and specs that are so tightly drawn that nobody else can bid on them, which is a violation of the contracting law. If the plans and specs are prepared under the direction of a registered architect who is on the staff of a contracting company, he felt there would be no legal problem with that. Bob Dillon - stated there are also various categories of engineering involved in pre- paring plans and specs. Are they also required to be registered by law? Attorney Hawkins stated those items must also be prepared under the direction of a registered individual. His experience has been that architects have been doing mechanical and electrical designs. Special City Council Meeting August 28, 1978 - Minutes Page 2 Rich Lundeen - stated both electrical design and mechanical design have to be prepared by registered engineers, Dean Johnson - stated some architectural firms have the staff and handle everything totally in-house; whereas some of the other firms may have to sublet out the engineering, which can be a problem. Mr. Dillon - stated if we proceed with a building, it is hard to tell whether tbe architec.. turàlpart of the firm is subservient to the other or vice versa. Also, who will represent the City in inspecting work. How can we expect the person drawing the plans to supervise the work the same if he is also the buildér? Councilperson Lachinski felt that this will probably be a tilt-up type building, The City has an inspection staff; ,and if our Inspector feels he needs additional help, there are other people we can drawn on at that point. He didn't feel there would be any problem in seeing that the building is properly inspected and meets all codes. Mr. Johnson - stated if there is a structural problem or a structure that tails, what generally happens is the architect, engineer, building owner, and contractor would call in an independent testing company to investigate. As tar as liability for an architect coming from a contracting firm, he didn't see a problem there. If there is a problem with the structure, the City would immediately sue everybody that was involved; so it doesn't make any difference where the architect comes from. Mayor Windschitl then reviewed the purposes of the Building Committee. Councilperson VanderLaan suggested the Cornmittee's recommendation be referred to the Attorney for opinion prior to Council action on it. MOTION by VanderLaan, Seconded by Orttel, to adjourn. All in favor said aye. Meeting adjourned at 7:58 p,m. Respectfully submitted, ~~~h ~~L Recording Secretary -