City Council votes to rescind contract

DEAN WRIGHT

City Council voted to rescind and approve a new parking garage construction contract after an accounting error at a special city council meeting.

BRISTOL – During a special City Council meeting, members voted to rescind a parking garage construction contract with D’Amato

Construction Company for $5,356,686 and then voted to approve a contract for the construction of the same building for $5,854,706.

“To give a little context here, obviously we rushed this through last week. The parking garage is still a huge priority for us and very timely. This is why we have two special meetings in a row. This is not typically a thing that we do,” said Mayor Jeff Caggiano. “Unfortunately in the contract process in the original bidding process there was a mistake made . . .”

City officials noted that an error had been made in paperwork surrounding whether an elevator would exist within a parking garage slated for construction behind the Bristol Police Headquarters. The garage had also been the subject of discussion in a previous special City Council meeting.

“I apologize for all of you coming back for this,” said Rousseau. “Quite simply we had listed in the original specification a carve out for work related to an installation of an elevator in the structure. We’ve had a number of conversations internally as to whether that was going to be an additional cost above the base bid or a deduct cost. We had written it originally simply as a marker for an alternate without indicating add or deduct. By the time that the conversation concluded, we had decided that it should be a deduct. We never went back to modify the language to say that was an added cost.”

Rousseau noted that when the city had started its calculations, everything had been considered on a base of an original construction cost of $5.8 million. Taking out the cost of the elevator brought the project to $5.3 million. It was not a deductible item though, said Rousseau. It was actually an add-on cost.

Councilman Sebastian Panioto asked if the parking garage would not have an elevator because he felt it was counterintuitive for a higher costing project without an elevator.

“The way that the contractors bid it, they assumed that there was no elevator in the building, so the 5.8 number actually reflects what the cost of the structure is without the elevator,” said Rousseau. “If the city decided to pursue installation of an elevator, the cost for the parking garage would be roughly $6.3 million.”

City officials thanked Rousseau for taking responsibility for the error. Rousseau and city officials said they would be looking into how the error had been missed as paperwork had been reviewed through state offices as well pertaining to the project.

Councilwoman Cheryl Thibeault said in her over 20 years working with Rousseau in her time on the Bristol Board of Finance and in City Council he was “usually spot on.”

“This isn’t typical,” said Thibeault.

“I will add for full clarity,” said Caggiano, “the D’Amato Construction Company the next day looked at the contract and said, ‘Wait a second, you’re short $498,020. So, right away Roger came to me and we decided to figure out how we can [fix] this.”

West Haven $6.5M short on Washington School project, expecting state funds

Brian Zahn

WEST HAVEN — Around its 112th birthday in summer 2021, the projected cost of building a new Washington School was $38 million — an expense to be supplemented with $24 million through the state's school construction reimbursement program.

Two years later, at a less sprightly 114 years old and amid rising construction costs due to supply chain issues, current projections for the cost of a new Washington School are about $44.5 million.

"The bottom line is we're short $6.5 million," said Ken Carney, a remodeling company owner who has volunteered to lead the city's efforts on numerous city building projects. 

However, Carney said there is a "verbal commitment" from state officials that the state could cover the difference, but the city will have to meet certain deadlines and handle construction-related tasks in a certain order.

First, he said, the Board of Education must approve the demolition of the school; not doing so before the end of June would jeopardize the state construction reimbursement funds, he said. On Monday, the school board voted unanimously to approve the demolition. Carney said the signed contract following that vote constitutes the official start of the project in the state's eyes. Although the district would be allowed to accept bids for demolition, Carney said the district would not begin demolition until after June 30 as it awaits additional funding from the state.

Carney said it is not without precedent, as Farmington, Norwalk, Torrington and North Branford are among several school districts that received additional financial support from the state after inflation increased the projected costs of school construction projects between bonding and the completion of design work.

Superintendent of Schools Neil Cavallaro said the increasing costs of construction are "happening all over the place since COVID." He said that, unlike a high school which has more programmatic offerings, there isn't anything that can be cut from an elementary school to bring down the costs. 

"It's all the basics," he said.

The board's approval of the demolition design constitutes a complete demolition, which Antinozzi Associates architect Lisa Yates said would cost $1.37 million as a pre-bid estimate.

Previously, the school board was told the district was considering several options, including piecemeal demolition of the building. The appeal of that option at the time was that the district had not identified another location for Washington School students. However, the district has since determined it can use the vacant Molloy School on Meloy Road during construction of the new building.

Doing the demolition phase at once before the construction of the building would save the district about $3 million and shave 18 months from the timeline of the project, Yates said.

“We got lucky on this project because there aren’t a ton of hazardous materials in the building, less than we expected,” she said.

Yates said the design for the building has been slightly modified to better suit the character of the neighborhood, including pitched metal roofs. The design concept includes a courtyard, accessible only through the school, where a playground for young children would be; a second playground designed for older children would be accessible to the public outside of school hours.

Board member Patricia Libero asked whether it was possible for the construction to preserve or retain any of the design elements from the 1909 school building. Yates said architects are working with a masonry contractor to preserve terracotta details from the exterior and to bring them inside the building so they are no longer exposed to the weather.

Vote to seek state funding for Torrington trail project put on hold over opposition

Emily M. Olson

TORRINGTON —  The City Council has delayed voting on applying for state funding for a new trail project on city-owned property following objections from a neighbor, with officials saying that the time will allow for additional public comment on the project. 

Assistant City Planner Nate Nardi-Cyrus has until the beginning of March to file an application for funding from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's Recreational Trails Grant program to expand the Sue Grossman Still River Greenway, which runs from Winsted into Torrington. 

If approved, Torrington would receive $439,700 for the latest leg of the greenway trail on city-owned property behind the Planet Fitness/Ocean State Job Lot building off Main Street. The property, which the city purchased, would open the area to hikers and cyclists with a trail that follows an old railway bed and ends on Newfield Road, where a bridge and railroad trestle leads walkers to the roadway. 

"We knew it was wise to take this property, and we researched it, did a title search, in 2017-18," Mayor Elinor Carbone said. "We were able to acquire the land, and now we can bring the railway (bed) into the trail as an active use."

"Over the last several years, the city has made a significant investment in walkability and, more specifically, the design and construction of a 5-mile extension of the Sue Grossman Greenway," Nardi-Cyrus said. "These efforts have included a detailed routing study, developing design plans, and the purchase of land from Pan Am that was the former rail line, extending from North Elm Street (Route 4) to Newfield Road.

"This trail section is a significant linkage between the Naugatuck River Greenway and Sue Grossman Still River Greenway, offering a direct connection to the newly constructed Prospect Street bike and pedestrian improvements and beyond. The proposed route was identified in the 2019 Sue Grossman Still River Greenway Routing Study," he said. 

Members of the Torrington Trails Network are working on the portion of trail that will lead walkers from McDermott Street off North Elm Street, through a wooded area and ending at Newfield Road. This section is known as the Red Mountain Trail because it runs parallel to Red Mountain Avenue, off North Elm Street. 

During Monday's City Council meeting, resident Tom Whittaker said he knew nothing about the proposed trail extension, and that he and others in the area were concerned about the potential effects of use of the trail. He also pointed to Warrenton Mills condominiums on Main Street, which also borders the trail plan, and said people there were concerned about it. 

"I have friends on Red Mountain Avenue who have heard nothing about this (project)," Whittaker told the council. "They should be able to voice their opinions on this."

During their discussion, Nardi-Cyrus and Carbone explained that the trails project, and plans to use the property behind the Ocean State shopping plaza on Main Street, have been in development and discussion for nearly six years. 

"We got a grant for the design for this part of the trail, about six years ago," said Economic Development Director Rista Malanca. "We got a lot of input and had discussion with many people. When we talked to Warrenton Mills, they were thrilled about it. This is very much a positive, based on conversations I've had. It's been a long-running plan for this area."

Carbone said the points raised by Whittaker were a good opportunity. "It's a chance to remind and re-educate the neighbors about it," she said. 

City Council member Ann Ruwet asked whether  the vote on the state funding could be tabled. "We could allow public comment (at our next meeting on) Feb. 21," she said. That motion was approved, and the vote was tabled until the next meeting. 

According to Malanca and Nardi-Cyrus, the trails project has included "significant collaboration" between the city's land use department, economic development, the city engineer and Police Department, along with the trails network, a volunteer organization that has spent much of its time clearing trail areas, removing trees and overgrowth.

On the Red Mountain trail, which has flat areas as well as sections that ares sloped or with a slight grade, the clearing work will require fallen trees and thick vine growth to be removed. There are also several homeless encampments in the woods along the trail; some have been abandoned and are damaged by the weather, while others are fairly new.  

Plans for the trails project are in the land use office in City Hall. The Torrington Trails Network is planning public events on the trail to provide additional information, which also can be found at www.nwcty.org/torrington-trails-network.

At groundbreaking for Danbury's new career academy, a pledge for students to ‘take control of their learning’

Rob Ryser

DANBURY – The city’s much-anticipated campus for 1,400 middle and high school  students will be delayed by one year and won’t open for the 2024-25 school year as planned,  but at a groundbreaking ceremony at the site educators said they will implement the district’s comprehensive career academy curriculum on time.

“Starting next fall, ninth grade students in Danbury public schools will receive instruction tailored to their unique interests to provide them more specific skills that will make them more competitive in both the college application process as well as the regional job market,” schools Superintendent Kevin Walston told a crowd of city leaders Monday at a hilltop groundbreaking ceremony for the west side campus.

“It is no longer enough to simply provide a general learning experience and hope that those skills are enough to transfer over to the job market,” he said. 

Walston was referring to a “wall-to-wall” plan to begin each student’s high school experience with college and career readiness courses, along with classes in digital and financial literacy. All ninth-graders will meet with counselors to discuss which of six career academies appeals to them. In their sophomore year, each student will take courses in their career pathway, a curriculum that will be supplemented with field trips and guest speakers.

“Danbury has decided that it will be more deliberate in helping students find the skills they need to take control of their learning and dictate the terms of their own future,” Walston told the crowd of elected leaders and city department heads. “We are the first in the state to take on this type of challenge, and we anticipate becoming a model for the state of Connecticut.”

The ceremony Monday was held at the former headquarters of Cartus Corp. – a 24-acre property overlooking the Danbury Fair mall that was acquired by the city late last year. It plans to renovate the 270,000-square-foot building into badly needed classrooms to ease crowding at Danbury High School.

“To me this is a heartfelt day – we’ve been working and working to ensure the advancement of education in the space that we need, and there are so many people who worked diligently every single day and with transparency to make sure that we got the best possible location for the students of this city and the taxpayers of this city,” Mayor Dean Esposito said. “This is what the future of Danbury needs. That is why we pushed so hard in less than one year to provide this location for the people.”

As hard as leaders pushed to meet an opening deadline of August 2024, the city lost valuable time while acquiring the land because it took months for the seller to remove a restrictive clause on part of the property that would not have allowed any use other than a parking lot.

In December, Danbury quietly revealed at the end of a City Hall-produced video that it would miss the target opening date in 2024, prompting Walston at a school board meeting in January to announce that it was “no longer a secret” that “the building is being delayed.”

At Monday’s ceremony, Walston stressed that the groundbreaking was about more than just marking the start of the $164 million renovation of the office park that voters approved in the summer.

“Today’s groundbreaking is both a literal and figurative celebration,” he said. “We are certainly breaking ground on a new building that will usher in a new school. But more importantly, today signifies a groundbreaking transformation to the way Danbury is going to go about the business of educating our children.”

Esposito agreed, saying, “The students are our future – we all know that.”

“This is the future of Danbury today,” he said. “An old-time Danburian told me the other day this (west side campus) is one of the best things to happen to Danbury since the invention of the hat.”

Are Crane Operator Breaks Feasible

LUCY PERRY 

A crane operator's comfort is crucial to a successful day at work. Discomfort to the point of tension is unhealthy, while relaxing to the point of drowsiness is a danger to the operator, crew and people on the ground. The notion of operator comfort during a long shift, whether that's high up in a tower crane cab or closer to the ground in a mobile rig, is gaining traction.

The National Safety Council (NSC), Itasca, Ill., reports that 69 percent of employees are tired on the job. This fatigue significantly increases the risk of workplace injuries and incidents, the nonprofit said.

Focused on high-risk industries where fatigue can have dire consequences, the report found that 100 percent of construction workers have at least one risk factor for fatigue. It also found that 46 percent of construction workers say they work during high-risk hours, such as at night or early morning.

"Worker fatigue is often an overlooked hazard on the construction site," found the NSC. "Fatigue, whether physical or mental, impairs a construction worker's ability to safely and effectively perform their job duties."

Fatigue also increases the risk of accidents and injuries, which can lead to unnecessary workers' compensation costs and can greatly reduce productivity on a project.

The safety organization suggests employers develop a fatigue management plan to help reduce the risks of fatigue-related accidents.

"Employers should make workers aware of the dangers of working while fatigued," it said. "Don't overload workers with too much or put unrealistic expectations for the completion of tasks because workers will feel compelled to push themselves too hard to complete them."

Employers also should monitor workers for signs of fatigue, ensure they're taking adequate breaks throughout the day and make sure workers drink plenty of fluids.

On hot days dehydration can contribute to fatigue, so employers need to be mindful how shift work, overnight work and extended hours affect employees.

Crane trainer Ron Overton said one major distraction to crane operators is being sedentary for long periods of time. Shifts can stretch from eight to 12 hours, so an operator has a tendency to relax if he or she is sitting in a particular spot for a long period of time. Stretching, movement of arms and legs and standing up for a while helps, said Overton.

"Some companies say the operator has to get out of the cab, stand on the car body and stretch in order to make the brain work before they can get back into the cab," he said.

He added since there is often downtime between lifts, operators are able to stop and walk around in between picks.

"Because they're actually sitting in a chair, they can only sit there for so long and then they feel like they have to get moving again," he said. "It causes the brain to reset and get back to an awareness of everything going on, as opposed to being kind of oblivious to the situation."

Eliminating Work Stoppages

The Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association (SC&RA) fought hard several years ago to convince the Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration (FMCSA) to exempt crane operators from rest-break rules.

In 2020, the association was successful, and the federal hours-of-service (HOS) exemption for certain mobile crane operators was renewed until 2025.

The 30-minute rest-break exemption applies to operators of cranes with a lifting capacity of more than 30 tons.

"Among the reasons for the exemption request was that the HOS rules create a challenge to find suitable parking when crane drivers go off duty for breaks," said training organization J.J. Keller, Neenah, Wis.

SC&RA said that the exemption affects approximately 65,000 of the 85,000 trained and certified mobile crane operators in the United States.

The FMCSA published final changes to its HOS regulations and made the rule effective September 2020.

"The changes reflect some of the sentiments of SC&RA both in formal comments submitted last fall, and in a private meeting between SC&RA leadership and Jim Mullen," then-acting FMCSA administrator said in early 2020.

The new rule allows more flexibility for the 30-minute rest-break rule by requiring a break after eight hours of consecutive driving. It allows the break to be satisfied by a driver using "on-duty, not-driving" status, rather than "off-duty" status, according to SC&RA.

The rule allows drivers to divide their required 10 hours off duty into two periods: an 8/2 split or a 7/3 split.

"Neither period would count against the driver's 14-hour driving window," the association said.

It modifies the adverse driving conditions exception by extending by two hours the maximum window during which driving is permitted.

The rule lengthens certain short-haul drivers' maximum on-duty period from 12 to 14 hours. It also extends the distance limit within which the driver may operate from 100 air mi. to 150 air mi.

SC&RA member specialized transportation and crane and rigging companies find themselves addressing HOS challenges that can affect public safety as well as impact operational efficiency.

"On average, crane operators spend only one to two hours of on-duty time each trip driving a crane to and from a job site," said the association. "However, operators have multiple periods of unscheduled breaks when they are basically ‘at rest' or ‘on break.'"

During that time, they're waiting for the scheduled lift, for the load to be rigged and for the load to arrive on the job site. They're also waiting on jobsite delays extending the time on site, and then driving the roadways and dealing with traffic delays when returning to the yard.

Plus, mechanical breakdowns can happen, requiring a service technician and downtime waiting on repair, as well as weather delays.

SC&RA said the five-year exemption applies to all qualifying OS/OW motor carriers and drivers operating mobile cranes with a rated lifting capacity of greater than 30 tons.

Breaking Versus Climbing

Bathroom breaks for tower-crane operators are not required on all construction sites, but one major city is considering changing that situation.

Operators in Philadelphia often stay in their crane cabs all day where they eat and use the facilities in the same small space.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the city council is considering legislation that would require supervisors to give tower-crane operators breaks of at least 30 minutes every four hours. Supervisors also would have to allow operators to leave the crane for restroom breaks at any time.

While allowed, breaks are currently not required, and most operators stay in their crane for the majority of their shifts.

During breaks, supervisors would be allowed to assign another operator to continue working the crane, according to the bill, which was moved out of committee to be considered by the full council.

How the requirements would be enforced is the question, according to the Inquirer.

The local construction industry said requiring operators to climb up and down hundreds of steps multiple times per shift presents its own safety hazards. But Mark Squilla, the councilmember who helped introduce the legislation, said the bill came about from his visits to construction sites.

"I thought, ‘This sounds sort of draconian,'" Squilla said in an interview. "There's no way they should have to stay up there where they're eating and going to the bathroom."

He added that after talking with workers the situation "sounded like something from the industrial days."

Manny Citron, chief of staff in the Philadelphia Department of Labor, said during the hearing that the bill "will make straightforward and commonsense changes" to the section of the Philadelphia Code that regulates use and inspection of tower and mobile cranes.

"This administration believes that it is in the interest of safety to the operator, their coworkers on the job, and also the public at large that workers operating critical machinery such as tower cranes should have regular access to breaks," Citron said. "Additionally, we believe that all employees should have reasonable access to sanitary facilities."

The Inquirer reported that Vaughan Buckley, chief executive officer of Volumetric Building Cos., said the association is "in full support of anything that enhances worker safety."

Speaking on behalf of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia, he said the group objects to the bill's language requiring, instead of allowing, breaks.

On a 320-ft. tower crane, operators could have to climb as many as 500 steps to go up and another 500 to get down, Buckley said. At minimum, the legislation "would require them to ascend and descend six times on a 10-hour shift," he said.

This, he continued represents a combined ascent and descent of 1,800 ft. and nearly 3,000 rungs of a ladder.

"The idea that such a requirement is an enhancement to operator safety is really challenged by the facts."

Requiring operators to ascend and descend more often "exposes them to physical stressors" that could violate national safety protocols, Buckley said.

He added it also could endanger workers forced to leave their cranes in inclement weather. The requirement also "exposes the operators and the owners to a terrible choice," he said. "They can either follow the law, or they can enhance operator safety. In some cases, it will not be possible to do both."

Meantime, Councilman Squilla will continue his conversations with the building industry. He said if having workers go up and down several times becomes a problem, the city can revisit the requirements.

"I think we have an opportunity to help crane operators," he said. CQ