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Friday, March 9, 2012

NECCO – ALDRICH & ELLIOTT MINUTES SPECIAL MEETING Friday, March 9, 2012

SWANTON VILLAGE MUNICIPAL COMPLEX
120 FIRST STREET
SWANTON, VT 05488

NECCO – ALDRICH & ELLIOTT
MINUTES
SPECIAL MEETING
Friday, March 9, 2012
11:00 AM

PRESENT: Reginald Beliveau Jr., Village Manager; Brad Aldrich, Aldrich & Elliott; Paul Sipple, NECCO; Scott Waite, NECCO; Dianne Day, Administrative Assistant Swanton Village.

Scott Waite arrived and advised that Paul Sipple would be about 15 minutes late. Reg Beliveau advised he would begin with some issues pertaining to Scott while they were waiting for Paul. Reg stated that there has been a lot of correspondence circulating and that it can be confusing at times, that emails can portray misperceptions and personal interjections. He stated he would like these to go away. He said he has talked with Brian Bishop and he is pleased with the work and has no issues or concerns with Scott. Reg stated that once they started the project the supervision was ramped up and has been good supervision.

Reg stated there was some question as to what their contract stated for supervision and what was actually done. He said there were comments made but not recorded in the Minutes and that was that Swanton Village was very happy with the supervision of the lagoon job and happy with Scott’s involvement with that job. Reg stated he was not happy with the letters he has been receiving and wants to resolve this matter.

Change Price Request – Process: Reg stated he understood this process, that it is a customary process and he feels his words were misinterpreted when asking if this was the best price, etc. He said he knew Scott did due diligence and was not out to screw the Village of Swanton, that he was fair. He also stated that he understood what the condition of change orders entail, that he wasn’t questioning Scott’s integrity and that his email was misconstrued.

Reg stated his observations are that their first meeting was bumpy and that there were concerns with Al Lewis and Aldrich & Elliott pertaining to change orders and how long they should take. He asked how deeply they should discuss manhours.

Brad Aldrich stated it was easier to exchange emails rather than call and said he understood the politics involved with having to fight this out with Al Lewis. He said he’s going to accept it, he will change his language for future jobs but that instead of just talking about it and being sidetracked they needed to get back on track and move beyond this. He said they needed to move on because the project is just starting. Reg stated that when Brad wrote in his email “am I missing something here?” he was looking for verification and had no malicious intent.

Scott asked about Lagoon #3 and Reg said he understood that Brad talked to someone about pumping it out and it had more arsenic levels than the State would accept so it could not be land applied. Brad stated that himself, Brian and Chuck will look at the lagoon to see if they can function with one down, but either way can’t do it until it thaws out. Scott asked if they had anyone in mind. Reg advised he had received pricing from a couple of companies but hasn’t decided yet. He said Drummac has given him a good price and they may need to try and de-water initially.

Paul Sipple arrived at meeting at 11:15 a.m. Reg stated that work is getting done and they have no issues and things are going great.

Paul stated his issue is not about the job, his issue is about the process with Aldrich & Elliott and asked from whom can they take direction?

  1. Who can authorize T&M work? Reg advised Chuck Magnus and Brad Aldrich.
  2. Requesting T&M work – Chuck asked for a cost for relocating ERU-1 intake. T&M requests can’t request pricing. Reg stated Brad Aldrich could request pricing.
  3. Change Price Requestprocess -- Paul stated this can’t stand as it is not working. He said they need to make sure that you really want the change, that you have funding for it and make sure due diligence has been done by the owner regarding pricing and you can do it. He said he looked at this, revised it and have a price they feel comfortable with. Brad mentioned the replacement of 40’ of pipe conversation. He said they didn’t do a CPR because the price didn’t warrant a change and he didn’t ask them to price it three times. Scott said the procedure is fine. More discussion took place regarding this procedure and talking with Brian. Paul stated they would resolve it with a CPR and they would look at in the field like always.

  1. Supervision and PM costs – Paul stated when they do extra work it takes extra time. The value of that effort goes into the cost because it takes real work time to do it and if it is within reason that should be ok. Reg stated he was good with that.

  1. Time – Paul stated that they couldn’t do a whole lot of work, it affects the job putting time on a project because the entire project would expand out. He said they would look for additional time on that. Brad stated he would disagree. Paul stated it is their assessment and their schedule and that a T&M change wouldn’t matter, the purpose of a schedule is not to say it’s the reality of the job. Brad stated that two hours of work doesn’t add a day and he would not agree to this. Reg stated they have an end date of October 4th, if it goes over that they will look at it then. Paul stated it would be easier if they didn’t have to worry about that, at some point they need to do it. Brad said if they expand this by two months that’s not trivial and Swanton Village would have to pay Aldrich & Elliott more and A& E would put it on NECCO.

Brad said he wants to agree on the time issue but moving the ERU-1 doesn’t take a day. Reg stated a week or so would be ok but two months would not be. Paul stated this was not very critical but more needs to go into time allocated on job projects.

Brad stated he would re-issue CPR’s. Paul said he has seven  CPR’s to be priced, and when something  needs to be done T&M do it but not on a job that needs a CPR, we want you to get paid fairly.

  1. Job Meeting Minutesprevious and future – Paul stated the comment “SSX did an excellent job” wasn’t in the Minutes but the comment “NECCO wasn’t properly supervised” was. He said this is an unsubstantiated comment, and asked why they add a complaint but not a compliment?

Scott stated he felt the supervision was adequate and he never heard any issues about not finding him, he showed up every day. Reg stated that after a discussion with Scott he was there daily. Paul stated the Minutes are too editorialized and should not be taken by Aldrich & Elliott. He said it wasn’t just the supervision comment, it was three or four things. Brad stated Paul should have written back if he didn’t agree with the Minutes, Paul said he did but not without a fight.

Reg stated that Minutes are going to show issues and resolutions and that there is compromise. He stated they could have Dianne Day from Swanton Village take the Minutes from this point forward but that would be an expense to the Village. Paul said he would pay for half of it, that he was willing to do that to ensure that Aldrich & Elliott not take the Minutes.

Brad stated that they got off to a bad start and he hopes to come out of this meeting and move forward. Paul agreed. Paul said their relationship was good going into it and somehow they got sidetracked.

    11. Brad’s Conduct – Paul stated that he couldn’t let Brad’s conduct go unaddressed. He said it was a civil rights issue and an abuse issue and asked if Swanton Village was going to let this just go? Reg stated that he wouldn’t discuss an employee’s issue with another employee and that he hired A&E and has dealt with the issue. Brad stated he knew he hollered at Paul and apologized for it and said it wasn’t a personal vendetta, that he was looking out for the Village. Paul said he wanted some justification for himself regarding Brad’s behavior. He said he hoped this was an isolated case and said he would accept Brad’s apology and compromise and move forward.

  1. Lagoon #3 this fall – There was discussion as to starting the Lagoon job last fall. Paul felt Brad was in a hurry to get it started then but it wasn’t added to the Contract. Brad stated that if Paul had a problem with starting the Lagoon job last fall he should have said something before they signed the Contract. Paul said Brad was directing their work and he didn’t like it. Brad asked Paul if he had the authority to direct his work and Paul stated no he did not. Brad then asked then why do the Lagoon job if he didn’t have that authority? Paul stated he made his point and would move on.

  1.  NECCO Supervision – Paul stated the inaccuracy and misrepresentation of compliment and bad supervision. Reg stated if there is a question or an email concern, call and ask. Paul stated he made a big issue out of these things because they are unusual incidents and they needed to be addressed. Both Brad and Paul agreed for a fresh start and stated they would get back on track.


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Paul Sipple, NECCO                                                    Date


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Brad Aldrich, Aldrich & Elliott                                                Date