It appears McMinnville officials are going with AEI Architects, Engineers and Planners to generate a full set of drawings for Blue Building renovation and produce documents needed by the city to bid out the project.
Meeting Tuesday night were Building and Grounds Committee members Aldermen Ben Newman, chairman, Ken Smith and Jimmy Bonner. The three voted unanimously to begin negotiations with AEI on cost, but not before discussing the option of bidding the work out to other companies.
The city had two choices: 1) Hire AEI to generate final drawings and documents. Because that company generated the preliminary set of drawings to renovate the building for use by the city’s police department, negotiating the cost could take a few days. 2) Use an RFP (request for proposal). An RFP is a competitive bidding process so companies can submit bids on their cost for generating the final drawings and documents. While AEI may or may not submit the lowest bid, the process itself takes weeks.
“We could fast track this by letting AEI go ahead and develop the drawings and documents or we can go out for bids and see if we can save some money by letting someone else do it,” said Mayor Jimmy Haley.
Newman says he prefers the information that might come from the city seeking proposals from other companies.
“I think we should bid this out in an effort to keep the cost down,” said Newman. “I don’t think this is a fast track type of undertaking. This is a large building. It’s old. It’s going to take a lot of insight. I think having other folks putting their input in could be beneficial. I know AEI is extremely familiar with the building. They have been in and out of it a lot. There just could be some ideas other firms have that AEI hasn’t thought about. I think it would be a good idea to see what other folks offer.”
Bonner and Smith were in favor of hiring AEI. Smith says AEI president Peter Metts is very familiar with the Blue Building and he has had discussions with both McMinnville Police Chief Bryan Denton and Police Major Mike Lane about the department’s needs.
“I would prefer to have AEI,” said Smith. “They are familiar with the building and they worked with Bryan and Major Lane. They are experienced in old building renovations. I would go ahead and be more in favor of AEI. I’m against an RFP.”
Newman made a motion to begin a competitive bidding process using an RFP, which failed due to lack of a second. Smith made a motion to begin negotiations with AEI. His motion passed unanimously.
AEI’s cost to generate the final drawings and documents should be known within a few days. City officials voted to spend up to $2.8 million renovating the building. AEI’s cost will be included in that amount.