Travis County Commissioners Court
September 22, 2009,
Item 34
>> number 34 is consider and take appropriate action regarding the replacement of lower level seats at the exposition center arena.
>> good afternoon, judge and Commissioners.
>> [indiscernible] I have director of expo center.
and we come to you today to request the approval of replacing of 1,858 lower level seats at the exposition center.
in your backup, we have plans and drawings showing the area we're hoping to replace in the shaded area.
and also the replacement will cost about-estimate is about $190,000.
and we do have that money in the allocated reserve of the expo center, which is -- we're not asking for general fund money, it's from the expo center start having funds this that account.
the schedule if the court approves that request, we can have that done by next March before even the rodeo starts.
but now I would like to turn it over to michael and he talk to you about the condition of those seats we would like to replace.
and we have a video, I guess.
>> yeah.
if media could roll the d.v.d.
the expo center was built in '83 and for 20 years it operated as an indoor, outdoor facility.
so the flames of the seats that you see were exposed to all the elements for quite a number of years.
and so to refurbish them, not only structurally in question every year before, for example, the rodeo, we have to come in and reanchor countless games but also the plastic seats have broken under many instances because they just are not designed to handle that much weight.
so to come in and refurbish them structural and -- cost met beingly would be a tedious process because the way they are mounted would require thousands of man-hours to come in and do it, thought to mention you are dealing with an old, antiquated seat.
so I looked at a bid to get just those seat frames cosmetically refurbished and it was close to $100,000 to have them removed and reinstalled.
so replacing them with new seats would not only update the quality, the fit and I finish, the new seats are designed for much more weight levels, up to 400 pounds can be sat on the edge of the seat.
many of these seats have broken and we've had to replace them t plastic we've refurbished a number of times because it got objection diseased.
these are the new seats that we've looked at.
this is the same seat but without the arm rests and without the cup holders.
which we do have arm rests on our old seats but not cup holders.
there is a vinyl insert which we're including this the bid so these seats would look more like this with arm rests, vinyl padding on the back and bottom, and then a cup holder in the rear which will come up here in just a second.
that's another angle of it.
and then there should be one with the cup holder.
there you go.
that's without the arm rest but with the cup holder mounted on the back.
the company which in these particular cases is the same company who has supplied seats to the seahawk stadium in seattle, also the -- I think at this time soccer stadium in lisbon, portugal.
also the atlanta olympic stadium, which I believe is the next picture.
the olympic stadium in atlanta.
and last there any they won the bid and installed all the seats in the new dallas cowboys jerry jones stadium.
>> and if it's approved by the court, we will go ahead and bid it on open market.
you know, bid the -- with the help of purchasing, we can bit these seats in open market.
>> what happened to the seats that will be replaced?
what do we do with those seats?
>> we can use some of them because we have risers that have historically been used for temporary foldout chairs or just temporary chairs.
we have plans, because the football team that had been talking about leaving has decided to stay, they use those risers and we have plans on refurbishing those and remounting those old seats and repainting them.
it won't be that much of a job to do 400 or 500 so it will be like a box seat down low close the the arena.
the remaining are aluminum so there's a great value to recycle them so we'll take the old frames and recycle them and get a significant amount of money, which I would like to make sure stays in the expo fund.
>> thank you, michael.
thank you, michael.
>> [laughter]
>> we've sold some other things that didn't go to the expo fund.
these we bought out of our funds that went to the general fund.
>> some we could definitely reuse, and the others you are suggesting that we recycle.
>> well, we can redo them and utilize them in a more mobile fashion to where they can be put on the arena floor to continue to have the seats go down.
depending upon the bid we might choose since we're going to mix up the colors in this new purchase to have a lot of different bright colors, freshen up and modernize the arena, go ahead and refurbish 400 or 500.
but to refurbish all 1780 would be difficult and you would be throwing good money at bad because you would be spending almost $100,000.
>> flash flood to the seats being 20 years old, it is an unfortunate truth that according to the Texas department of health and safety, we've gone from roughly over 30% obese population in Texas to over 60% obese population in Texas.
unfortunately I think our equipment is going to have to reflect that.
>> yeah.
>> and one more related issue.
on the expo center, you know, the court did give us the okay to buy a 100-foot boom left for about 145,000 from the expo center fund.
now, we've decided this money would be better spent to buy the seat and the boom lift at this time because we tried to make a deal with other entity to have a boom lift available for us.
>> good job.
>> back to the color, I was going to ask if we got to vote on the color.
>> we could, but much like other places since we don't have a home team or something of that nature.
>> oh, but we do.
>> [laughter]
>> to try to mix up the colors just to brighten up because the building is obviously very old and some of the buildings we're competing with are brand new so it would be nice to have a combination.
>> do you --
>> I have a couple more questions.
do these seats come with a warranty and what's the life expectancy of them?
do we have information along those lines?
>> that is all in the backup.
i couldn't tell you that -- they come with a warranty.
i don't have the exact term of the warranty.
i can get back to you on.
but they have been tested and rated for up to 400 pounds.
they also rate them with impact testing and over 25,000 times per test on the seats.
but the impact warranty, I would have to e-mail to you and tell you exactly what it is.
>> we can get thaw information.
>> so this would go out for bid, right?
>> it's going to be for bid, but if you approve that to go ahead and spend it.
>> right, but so you've targeted the seats, but different companies carry the same seat or something?
>> comparable.
>> if it's equivalent, same structure, stability to same, same fabric, everything.
>> same specs.
>> yes.
>> cyd?
>> I'll be here to answer questions.
>> what's p.b.o.'s position?
is my first question.
what's your position on the money?
let's narrow that down.
>> well, we made sure for the fifth revenue estimate that we accounted for this money actually being -- if Commissioners court wanted to fund this, that the money was accounted for as being encumbered this fiscal year, and it doesn't hurt them for next fiscal year if you decide to wait a little while longer because their revenue fund is looking very healthy right now.
they are doing a really good job.
>> thanks to you, michael.
>> is this under
>> [inaudible] under allocated reserve for the expo center?
>> they have that amount of money available this fiscal year.
>> okay.
so p.b.o.
has no position other than the money is available.
>> the money is available.
>> okay.
>> should it be an automatic transfer so we can put it back in the system?
>> if you decide to -- that you want to let them go ahead and set the money aside this year, we would ask that your motion include that this be considered as an automatic budget adjustment so we can get it done in time for all the purchasing and all the things that have to happen on the system before end of year.
>> where is this $190,000 today?
>> it's in the expo center allocated reserve.
>> ms.
grimes.
we have a couple purchasing questions.
so purchasing has not been involved to this point.
>> no, sir.
>> they've just been doing research.
>> that's correct.
>> there's no issue with that as far as requests for --
>> no.
we knew their specs.
if they found a standard that they want to get, we just have to put our equal into the bid.
we can't bid specifically those seats, but the specifications, weight issues, durability, we can write in what we want the warranty to be, all those things.
>> sure, we can provide all those technical specifications just like any other project.
>> all that good research will inform the scope of the specifications.
>> so it will be indicated in the specifications per se as far as what michael and roger just illustrated as far as those type of seats.
is that correct?
>> right.
>> okay.
>> so the bottom line, these would replace old seats that are there today.
so the seating capacity would not be changed.
>> they are almost identical in dimension.
>> okay.
>> but these would look better and enhance our ability to lease the expo center long term we think.
>> not only lease it but improve the impression that's, you know, been made, you know, over time, it will just improve the experience of the client that comes there.
>> that's correct.
>> what color did you want?
>> well, I was going to make a motion that we move forward with this and that the Commissioners court reserve final approval on the color.
>> I'll second that.
>> I'll second that.
on top of the other motion.
but anyway, but it's something I think that p.b.o.
brought up as far as their budget adjustment that may be necessary along with making that as part of the motion.
>> might be putting the appropriate line item.
you wouldn't be able to get this done anyway before the first of the year, wow?
it would take at least a couple months if you are going to do bids and the rest.
>> take a couple months.
>> if it's in the expo reserve, why wouldn't you just leave it there and when it's time to spend it, move it?
are you looking for additional work?
>> no, I think they were interested in just getting the money in the right place
>> [inaudible].
>> which brings up another question.
if we use this amount from the allocated reserve for the expo center, what balance does it leave and is that sufficient for us to meet unexpected emergencies over the next 12 months.
>> well, this is the allocated reserve within the expo center fund.
completely.
yes, it would still have -- I'm sorry, I didn't bring the amount that they would have in the allocated reserve, assuming this 190 is spent, they would still have several hundred thousand in the allocated reserve in f.y.
10.
so they would still have that cushion in case anything else came up.
>> okay.
is it better for you to put it in a specific line item to spend or just leave it where it is until it's time to spend it?
>> for us it doesn't matter.
we can go and once you all vote, we can push the button upstairs and it will be ready for them to enter into the purchase information just to get the money set aside this fiscal year without making any kind of purchasing decisions.
it's just the h.t.e.
pushing a button.
that's all it is at this point.
>> very technical.
>> yeah, very tech, pushing the button.
>> in order for us to send the tech spec from purchasing to go ahead and bid the project, to enter into the system there's available funds.
>> October 1 is a week and a half away.
>> that's fine.
we can wait.
>> this will be a 2010 fiscal year expenditure, period, right?
i think it ought to come from 2010.
that's why I wouldn't put it in line item.
>> that's fine with us.
>> I'm supportive.
>> anything that can be done in the process, and I'm not that familiar with the process.
, the seeks are six weeks away once ordered because they come from australia.
it's a company that has an office in dallas, but I would like to do anything possible to get them installed before the rodeo.
but the installation is going to be an issue simply because the good thing is we're busy much more frequently and so getting them installed is not going to be as simple as blocking out a month to install them.
>> well, does the 190,000 estimate cover purchasing and installation?
>> yes.
it's just a matter of getting them the order in time to get them to ship them here and giving them the block of time they need to install them.
>> what's the motion?
>> move we move forward with the purchaser bidding on the seats and Commissioner has final approval on the color and that we do what is necessary to transfer the funds at the appropriate time.
>> can you clarify that for me?
>> we take the money and do the purchase when it's time.
>> I just want to make -- this is 2010 expenditure.
>> right.
>> moving it to -- well, I feel better than way.
>> I second that, but the motion definitely covers it happening in 2010.
>> right.
as far as -- which is end of fiscal year, beginning of our new fiscal year which is October 1, which is at that time 2010.
>> if my understanding is correct, at the very worst, you all would land on who the -- who had the best bid on a Tuesday so at worst you have a week delay in getting the approval of the funds.
am I correct about that?
is that --
>>
>> [inaudible] can't approve the contract
>> [inaudible].
if we start now, we'll be into October.
>> what would keep this from being a routine budget transfer?
>> yeah.
>> first Tuesday in October.
put it on budget amendments.
>> right.
>> whenever you want.
>> but -- an all in favor?
>> hold on, judge.
i want to make sure that what will be the time line on the court deciding what color you think we should shoes, Commissioner Huber?
how long do you want us to wait on that color?
>> I think we need recommendations from the committee so we can just say --
>> okay.
>> actually I'm not interested in --
>> until it's in there we won't know what colors are available.
>> I'm not as interested in team colors per se as I am the maintenance capacity of the lighter colors.
so I think that's something to think about.
>> and if we could arrange the colors to spell out Travis County.
>> all right.
>> [laughter]
>> all in favor?
that passes by unanimous vote.
a thank you.
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Last Modified:
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 1:30 PM
