Providence Committee on Finance-Tuesday, April 1, 2025-5:30 PM

I don't know. How are you? Right. Because I've a plot on TV. I shakies around.

Is it? Yeah. Yeah. Think fine. I'll try.

Good evening. My name is Helen Anthony. I'm the chair of the committee on finance. I'm calling to order a regular meeting Tuesday, April 1 at 05:32 cleanup. 07:30.

Please.

Chair Logan Anthony.

Present.

Vice Chairman Taylor.

Here.

Councilor Angel Bosch.

Here.

Councilwoman Braves is absent. Councilor Sanchez.

Present. We

have four present and one absent. We have a floor. Thank you so much. And I'd like to thank, Ken from this, legal team here this evening and, of course, a wonderful quarter spawn, Marissa. Thank you so much.

With that, if you please read, item number one.

Resolution authorizing approval of the following change order number one, contract awarded by the board of contract and supply in accordance with section twenty one twenty six b four of the code of ordinances, Tool Design Group LLC, $210,000.300 and $210,366.58, Department of Planning and Development.

Oh, thank you, Director Mulligan, for coming this evening. We'll swear the two of you in. Please raise your mic, Denise.

Do you swear on the penalty of perjury? That's why you're about to. Thank Please state your name.

Joe Mulligan, Ian Collins.

Thank you so much for coming this evening. I think it was the magnitude of the change order for 210,000 given the original contract. We asked you if you wouldn't mind coming in and telling us what is going on with the Southwater Street pipeline project.

Yeah. Thank you, madam chair and members of the committee. This is a desire to expedite and advance the design for the South Water Street multimodal pedestrian bike path. This will give us the advantage of forwarding words that would normally occur later in the contract by allowing the consultants to bring in a survey team that will imply the cost associated with the length and the extended survey that has to occur. And we'll also bring utility location and subsurface utilities, which is a very important order for us to to avoid future unanticipated change orders.

So, really, what this is is it was part of the profit scope that we're we want to bring to the beginning of the project so that we can get this past us. Part of the reason for the timing is the because of the the source of funding, which is federal dollars that required us to do an extended environmental review with the Ethel process NDA, which we are actually coming through on the positive side of it is based upon the environmental impact of this project and its relationship to open space, the natural environment that approximates the river. So by doing this, we will be able to achieve a advance the project to a sufficient level that we may be able to commence construction activities right at the end of the year. And that will be a great benefit for us to get this project resolved, hopefully, by the end of next year.

Is is part of your concern that you need to get the funds later by seven days? Or

Part of it is so that this scope of work, including getting a meeting with you, allows us to amend the contract application, which is a a benchmark that we have to achieve so that we can apply for approval for the next phase of scope, including drawing down that money to ensure that we have a to do better allow the market to report and not be halted due to some daily resort commitment on a couple of months.

Okay. Alright. And then when you say it's going to be you're trying to commence the work by the end of this year? Correct. Not soon.

That's a pretty wide range of time. Okay. But, again, we're we're at the the mercy of kind of the federal oversight.

Okay.

And so as much as I'd like to make a a more resolute determination as to our schedule to to multiple day that we set our other side until we can be cautious on what we established for expectations in the community.

And then if you did start end of the year, when when would you anticipate completion?

Likely substantially completed the summer of next year.

Okay. Committee members. Yes. Councilor. Thank you.

Thank you both for being here. So just I wanna I have a couple questions. One is so just went from a total project cost of about $759,000,000 to change the bike lane on Street. So the total is about 1,000,000.

Well, the overall project budget for the safe streets for all grant is $27,200,000.

So for this project, for the change order of this project, is now a million dollars?

Yes. This also includes some other work to do other parts of the project, including Broadway, the Washington secondary, United as well. Okay. So that was all included for one contract. It sounds like it was just a section of that.

Okay. So in that 1,000,000 that we see on page 34, that includes those other projects too, or the one that is just South Water?

Inclusion. And

is the is that, like, exploration? And so is the 210 or so Yeah. Is that because we're trying to expedite, or what is the two ten? Like, why is

it No. We actually got some value for this because unanticipated, but that is not a good price. And that's just the extent of the the because of the the length and the extent of the uncertainty and the amount of investigations that will occur. That's kind of the long range for those survey work. I

I guess I don't fully understand what you're saying. Is that so why is this an additional two to 10 then if that's to go great? I would've been wouldn't that survey sorry. Can't see if you can't say. Would that sorry.

Felt like I was a little giddy. No. Sorry. I'm still in your bed. Giddy.

Sorry. No.

No. You're good. When the survey work have been included in the initial seven fifty? Like, what's the change? Like, what what is the 200?

So the seven fifty was to just get to the 30% preliminary design, and then we'll have another contract to do the rest of the work to get final design and construction. So, normally, we would include this work in the second contract, which is gonna be planned to be determined on. Okay. But we're trying to include it in this contract so we can make the work starting earlier since it's takes a lot of time and will be

a real project. Okay. So usually, it's harder than it.

This the chain builder is, I think, a procedural, but it's not an unexpected expense. It's the methodology of which you draw down on basically contracted, so it's no. Yeah.

And then I guess it's okay if ask Yes, please. So if this is a safe streets for all grant, are we fronting the money and then getting reimbursed by the federal government, and what's our level of concern about not being reimbursed at this point? Because my understanding is some of these programs are just, like, not at all interested in multimodal anymore, which just breaks my little heart. So this isn't me saying I don't want us to be multimodal. This is me saying I'm worried we won't do that.

Yes. We are crunching the money that would reimbursed. There haven't been any bills so far that can be reimbursed for eight years since the administration phase, but we're still waiting here. So

But we haven't received any, like, staff work orders on this or, like, any communication?

Yeah. No. It's an executed program, so we're operating on a premise that accidentally is will be held firm. But the benefit of the incremental kind of approval process that it gets us gives us the ability not to get too far ahead Yeah. Of our skis, if you will, and and be able to manage those and control those costs when you go.

And what part of this sorry to, like, hunker in on the bite side, Which she probably wants it. What part of this is the self water bike lane? Because I think with that idea, it was sold to us or, like was trying to be sold to us a couple of, like, last year. The total price tag was $7.50. And so I guess my little, like, nervousness here, I'm hearing that it's like there's a bunch of stuff built in, but, like, do we have I don't see it, but maybe it's here in the next the different projects and how much each of the different projects cost underneath here, like what the total for each of those separate projects are.