Council votes to approve $3M in spending

In their meeting of Dec. 10, the city council approved well over $3 million in spending in a single vote.

It was within the little-noticed and less-understood part of city meetings called the consent agenda. These are items that are deemed to not need, or be legally required, to be discussed in public. In this case, 10 resolutions dealing with finances and spending were part of that single up or down vote. Most of these were the approval of bids and will come back before the council for final approval after contracts are agreed upon. But, those agreements will also be voted on and, typically approved on a unanimous vote, on a future consent agenda.

All of the approved spending was already budgeted under budgets for previous fiscal years, mostly FY2024.

■ Resolution 7884: Awarded a $497,000 bid to Showcase Contracting for a remodel of the police department. As part of the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, funding was allocated for the Police Department Remodel project. This project will consist of remodeling various areas on the first floor of the police department. Work for the project will include demolition and construction of walls to create a new floor plan layout, electrical, plumbing, fire sprinklers and alarms, HVAC, construction of a new suspended ceiling, millwork, and hazardous material abatement.

■ Resolution 7885: Awarded an $821,000 bid to Acme Underground for the Nevada Way 12kV extension. In order to upgrade the electrical infrastructure along Nevada Way and to meet additional power needs within the business corridor, Redevelopment Funds were allocated to the Nevada Way 12kV Extension project. This project will consist of excavation of approximately 1,700 linear feet of trenching, and installation of conduits, underground vaults, and concrete pads. After this work is complete, the Electric Division will install the electrical equipment.

■ Resolution 7887: Approved a $230,000 contract between the city and ClearSpan Fabric Structures Inc. for purchasing a metal clad beam building and related services. In 2023 the city received COVID/CV grant funds from Clark County to be used to enhance emergency operations within the city. One of the approved uses from the county was for the purchase and installation of a logistics warehouse at the Fire Department Training Complex.

The grading and paving of the grounds at the complex is underway, and the city is ready to proceed with the purchase and installation of the logistics warehouse.

■ Resolution 7888: Awarded Las Vegas Paving Corporation a $597,000 bid for construction of pickleball courts at Veterans Memorial Park.

Resolution 7889: Change order 1 to that agreement backing off the amount to $544,085 for entire project.

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), funding was allocated for park improvements. On December 12, 2023, the council approved reallocation of additional ARPA funding to the planned pickleball courts project to be located at Veterans Memorial Park. This project will consist of grading, post-tensioned concrete slab, concrete sidewalk, slab surfacing and striping, fencing, and pickleball court amenities. Once finalized, this is supposed to be a 90-calendar-day project. After receiving the bids, staff determined that the lowest bid received exceeded available funding. In order to deliver the project, staff and Las Vegas Paving Corporation negotiated Change Order 1, which deleted the line items for electrical conduit and water service to reduce the contract amount by $52,915 for a total project cost of $544,085.

■ Resolution 7890: Repealed a resolution passed in 2023 which had allocated $250,000 of ARPA funds to ADA compliance in City Hall and $150,000 to a Communications Gateway and reallocating $261,000 to the municipal court remodel.

■ Resolution 7891: Awarded Muller Construction a bid of $528,000 for the court remodel.

As part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), funding was allocated for the Muni Court Remodel project. Work for this project will consist of alterations of various areas within the Municipal Court including demolition and construction of existing walls and facilities to achieve a new floor plan layout, electrical, plumbing, fire sprinklers and alarms, HVAC, suspended ceilings, millwork, doors, and hardware.

■ Resolution 7892: Awarded Mountain Pine Construction a contract of $220,000 for fire hydrant replacement. As part of the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, funding was allocated to replace fire hydrants identified as obsolete. Work for this project will consist of removal and replacement of 24 fire hydrants at various locations, and associated concrete flatwork with the hydrant replacements. Once finalized, this will be another 90-calendar-day project.

■ Resolution 7893: Approved a contract with Simpson Norton for $292,000 for the purchase of equipment and accessories for the Boulder Creek Golf Course. Equipment including mowers and accessory pieces were requested as part of the Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Year 2025.

■ Resolution 7886: Supporting the extension of indexing fuel tax rates to street and road construction costs. This is not direct city spending but Boulder City gets a lot of funding from the Regional Transportation Commission and the RTC gets a lot of funding by indexing the fuel tax to construction costs. That indexing has meant $900 million in additional funding over 10 years. The indexing is set to expire at end of 2026, and extra money to be gone by 2030 if the indexing is not extended.