- April 24, 2024
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Palm Coast will spend an estimated $425,000 to add "shade sails" at four local playgrounds. But the City Council members who ultimately voted in favor of the proposal weren't all happy about the process that preceded the vote.
Presenting the issue to the council at its April 18 meeting, City Manager Jim Landon noted that the sails, which would shade the playgrounds from the afternoon sun, had been part of the city's capital improvement plan, and requested by a previous City Council.
"If you have ever had a child or a grandchild in our summer around here, and they want to go to the playground and the sun is beating down on the playground equipment, it’s actually hot enough to burn them," Landon said.
So the city went out to bid for shade sails. The city's process didn't simply select the lowest bidder. Instead, city staff analyzed factors such as quality of construction, warranty length and the ease of removing the sails to prepare for hurricanes.
The city's staff selected one company — Shade Systems, Inc. — which had said it could do the work for $425,000. That proposal was placed on the City Council's agenda for a vote to authorize the work.
But Shade Systems wasn't the lowest bidder — two other firms had come in at around $360,000 — and Councilman Nick Klufas thought Shade Systems' quote was exorbitant.
"I was a little taken aback, because $400,000 is a lot for a shade system," Klufas said. He agreed with city staff that Shade Systems' bid was the best one. But the company had also put in a shade system at South Pointe Park in the Miami area for $79,000, he said, "and $79,000 times four is less than what they came in with their contract amount."
Klufas and Carl Cote, the city's project manager, approached Shade Systems before the meeting to ask about the apparent discrepancy. Shade Systems, Cote said, responded that there were a number of factors that influenced prices for specific projects, and that one that raised Palm Coast's price was the height that the shades would be placed at: They'd have to cover playgrounds with tall roofs, meaning the shades would need taller, wider posts than usual.
But Klufas had also asked that question, and gotten a different response.
"One of most pointed questions we asked was: Why was that project able to come in at $79,000, compared to what we have divided by four?," Klufas said. "And it was very telling, because one of the answeres he provided was he had a competitor bidding in that project, and he needed to come in at a lower figure. So that means he’s capable of providing the same type of project at the level of quality we’re expecting, at a lower cost. Taking into account the magnitude of our project, economies of scale would tend to lead you in a direction where that dollar per square foot is actually still on the wrong side of the equation. That's where my justification comes in for expecting a lower cost for the project."
Klufas proposed the city come back to the company with a counteroffer of $375,000. City Councilman Steven Nobile said he liked that idea.
But the city's process doesn't allow for that, City Attorney Bill Reischmann said. If the council didn't like Shade Systems' bid, it would have to throw out all the current bids and start over with a new bidding process, or negotiate change orders, changing the parameters of the projects to make it less expensive.
If the city went out to bid again, City Councilwoman Heidi Shipley said, Shade Systems might not submit another bid, leaving the city only with options it had already marked as inferior.
"I like the idea that we should be more aggressive with trying to cut costs," Nobile said. But he noted that in private industry, it would be easier to negotiate with a company like Shade Systems to get the best price, while laws for public entities make that trickier. And, he said, "I think we’re a little late on this one."
Klufas agreed, but suggested the council might be more involved in the process of planning such purchases earlier on.
"Perhaps this is an opportunity to discuss how we might approach this differently in the future," he said.
"Nick brings up something that’s been a passion of mine since I've been on this board," Nobile said. "The council getting involved in these types of processes, before we’re sitting here when the process is done."
The council voted unanimously to approve the design and construction of the shade sails. They are expected to be installed in August and September.
