PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Finance Committee approved the use of $168,382 to make repairs to the McKay Street Parking Garage.

 

The subcommittee heard from Building Maintenance Office Manager Michael Dean on Thursday who said the plan is to essentially replace the elevator that is over three decades old.

 

"It is going to be brand new," Dean said. "New cab, new doors, new ADA equipment, new fire service, and we are adding cameras."

 

The City Council had referred the allocation proposal to the subcommittee earlier in January and, in a communication from the Director of Maintenance Brian Filiault, said the elevator is original to the garage that was built over 30 years ago.

 

Dean said the elevator is exposed to the elements and a typical elevator has a life-span between 15 and 20 years.

 

"In the Northeast, there is typically a 15-year life span and they said we were lucky to make it as far as we did," he said.

 

Filiault wrote that there were repairs in 2014, 2015, and in 2016. He said there have been even more malfunctions since 2017, including door closure issues, faulty alarm circuits, and broken contacts and call buttons.

 

The elevator also has to be brought up to fire code and has failed an inspection in the last two years.

 

Dean said the improvement project would include weather- and vandal-resistant components and would totally bring the unit up to code.

 

"We are going to use a different materials so it is more weather resistant and more tamper proof," he said.

 

He said the bid was awarded to Associated Elevator Co. and came in around $155,000. The only other bid was Eagle Elevator, which services the city elevators, but it came in $100,000 more.

 

The funds would come from the parking fund. This would tap most of the money in the account but the administration expects by the end of the fiscal year this fund would regenerate and close with a surplus.

 

The committee also voted to rescind $2,437,022.08 of authorized but unissued debt connected to a list of completed projects with unused amounts that are no longer needed.

 

"The majority of these are in the last three fiscal years so you have a really good handle on this, Chairman Peter Marchetti said to Director of Finance Matthew Kerwood. "Do the project, complete the project, and get rid of the project so it just doesn't sit there. That is a compliment to you sir." 

 

The list spans 16 projects, the earliest going back to 2009 for wastewater treatment improvements.

 

Kerwood said some projects were altered, were actually cheaper than anticipated, have yet to come into fruition, or have been put on hold.

 

The project with the largest return was the wastewater treatment plant nutrient removal project design from 2017. This came in at $1,206,845 and the original allocation was $4,900,000.

 

Kerwood said this work was phased and these funds were not needed because the project was in final design. He said they are now in the construction phase. 

 

Other purchases include various vehicles and equipment and infrastructure improvements. 

 

Kerwood said he thought there were only one or two projects left that have not been closed out.

 

"We are still working our way through some of the older stuff," he said.

 

Kerwood gave a second quarter city financial review and noted that as of the end of December, the city has expended $83,914,840.07 of its $170.6 million budget. He said this is $707,786.60 more than last fiscal year.

 

On the revenue side, he said the city has collected $76,306,526.67. This is $1,359,419.06 more than last year.

 

The fiscal 2020 total project revenue is $158,953,452.60.