Oversight for Kiwanis Oval Project Under Inspection

With construction for the Kiwanis Oval's new multi-use turf field set to begin in less than two weeks, there's one last detail to consider.

How closely should the nearly $2 million project be monitored?

According to Mario Iannelli, the project's engineer from Birdsall Services Group, the Borough of Caldwell's engineer, Glenn Beckmeyer, has expressed concern that a full-time inspector wasn't included in the agreement with Birdsall.

"It's all about expectation. The project isn't going to suffer," Iannelli said to the governing body during last week's council meeting. "We have a good contractor. It's a question on what you want to invest as insurance."

As the lead agency, Caldwell's council unanimously approved the bid of $1,761,347 to Lake Hiawatha-based Applied Landscape Technologies, but were not ready to move forward with a full-time inspector on site.

"Maybe we need to hear what Mr. Beckmeyer has to say as far as why he feels there should be an additional charge and why it's so necessary to have the additional oversight," Mayor Susan Gartland said. "I'm just wondering why there's now all of a sudden such a need for the additional oversight."

The contract with Birdsall, which took over the original engineering company, CMX, calls for Iannelli to provide approximately 15 hours of oversight to the project each week for a fee of $6,500.

But to have a Birdsall inspector on site for 40 to 45 hours each week for a total of six weeks during the three-month construction's most critical stages would cost $19,200 or $640 per day in addition to the $6,500, Iannelli said.

"Part-time inspection is very common where we come out for an hour or two a day and do some testing, have bi-weekly meetings, check reports, check the tickets. That's one way to do oversight," Iannelli said.

"The other way is to have a guy sitting there writing daily reports on the amount of stone that was brought in and saying 'we checked the measurement, we're behind in this area, we encountered some bad soil that we had to excavate out.' That's the kind of oversight that I can definitely support at least in the critical construction elements."

According to Iannelli, the project's "critical milestones" that would require the inspector's attention include excavation, subgrade, placement of 12 inches of stone and the installation of the turf.

"Glenn was pretty adamant that at least some consideration should be given to this. He's doing his job, because if some problem happens out there, at least he's advised you of that," Iannelli told the governing body.

"If you put 12 inches of stone down, the inspector walks around with a stick to make sure that there are 12 inches of stone everywhere. That's the level of expectation. Do you want that kind of scrutiny or are you OK with looking at it from a couple of blocks away? It's done both ways and they both turn out fine. It comes down to what you're comfortable with."

Councilman Peter Murray questioned why this level of inspection wasn't included in the original bid was Birdsall, but Iannelli said the "RFP originally called for limited construction inspection."

"If [Applied Landscape Technologies] are not following the specs that are laid out, then they are the ones who are responsible for remedying the situation, right?" Councilman Richard Hauser asked.

Iannelli said it could take a significant incident to realize a particular aspect of the project was not done correctly. By that time, addressing the issue could be difficult, he said.

"It's a legitimate point," said West Caldwell Mayor Joseph Tempesta, who attended the meeting with members of his council. "We do have some ideas and there may be some other alternatives as well that may be a little less expensive that will give us the coverage we need."

Once scheduled for five months, the project has been squeezed into a three-month window with strict penalties posed to the contracting company if work is not completed by Sept. 1, Municipal Attorney Greg Mascera said.

According to Mascera, new recreation and lease agreements with West Caldwell are nearly finalized. Once the contracts are in place, Mascera and West Caldwell Attorney James Lott plan to meet with Caldwell College's legal representation to finalize an official agreement with the school.

"We're confident. We're ready to go and we're looking forward to moving forward at a fast pace once we have those agreements, then we'll look to incorporate Caldwell College into a separate set of agreements for their use of the oval as well," Mascera said. "I'm very comfortable where we stand right now. I'm excited for the borough. I think we're in a good spot and we're where we need to be at this point."

Caldwell College President Nancy Blattner said the school would not have maintained its verbal agreement of a $200,000 contribution over 10 years toward the project if the Borough of Caldwell continued to pursue a potential fee to students for the use of municipal services.

However, Borough Administrator Paul Carelli informed school officials prior to Tuesday night's council meeting that the does not include the Community User Resource Enhancement (CURE) tariff.

"We're very interested in partnering with both Caldwell and West Caldwell in this project in the amount we had previously discussed—$200,000 over a period of 10 years," Blattner said. "We appreciate very much the communication we received earlier from Paul Carelli with regard to the consideration that there will not be an imposition of tax on the students, so yes, in light of that communication, we are committed to moving forward."

Considering the difficult economy, more joint projects like this should be considered in the future, Tempesta said.

"It's a great day for our communities. It's a great day for our children. This is a dream come true," he said.

"I sincerely hope we do more things together, because when we do, this is what we're capable of doing and ultimately our families will benefit."