‘I’m just getting tired of all of it’: Delay in finishing City Hall renovations, lack of cable TV broadcast frustrates alderman

QUINCY — If Director of Public Works Jeffrey Conte could do it all over again, he would have waited to give the order to tear out the carpet in City Council chambers rather than have it removed in May.

The decision to allow Maas Construction to begin asbestos removal as part of its renovation work at City Hall forced monthly Quincy City Council meetings to be held at multiple sites throughout the city since May 29. Meetings have been held at the Quincy Public Library since July 2. 

Ernest Hicks spoke about his concerns with the length of the project during the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting. Alderman Jeff Bergman (R-2) later expressed his dissatisfaction that the meetings must still be held away from City Council chambers because of a wait for carpet.

Conte said the carpet work is expected to be completed by Moore’s Floors by the end of August. After the carpet was removed in May, the floor was re-leveled the following week. Conte also said windows between the lobby and council chambers still must be removed to improve soundproofing the executive sessions occasionally held by aldermen.

All audio-visual equipment used to broadcast City Council meetings was removed from council chambers. 

“If we went back to council chambers now, the IT department would have to reinstall everything, and that takes time and staff,” Conte said after the meeting. “Then they’d have to tear it out again when it’s time to reinstall the carpet. The mayor’s trying to avoid that, which I understand.”

Conte said Maas Construction owner Jerry Maas told him a window to remove the carpet was available in May.

“He said, ‘I can do it now, and I don’t know when I can come back,’” Conte explained. “I knew he had a lot of (work to do in Quincy’s schools), and I couldn’t guarantee that he would have been able to come back now. If I had my ideal world, I would probably have waited until schools got back in session, and hopefully the contractor would be available.”

Hicks told aldermen he’s been in construction for 24 years. When he heard aldermen fail to answer a question about when the renovation work at City Hall would be finished during the July 29 City Council meeting, Hicks chose to speak up this week.

“I know for a fact that when any construction is started, there are four things that are known from the beginning — cost, start date, finish date and any construction overruns and the penalties given to the sub or general contractor for that,” he said. “So when the gentleman couldn’t answer last week when the finish date would be, I thought that to be very odd. That just leaves wide-open overruns and things like that. 

“The reason that he gave was that (Maas) was prioritizing the school remodels over the remodeling of City Hall. Well, I’d like to know if that contractor wasn’t big enough to handle all the jobs he was given, why was he given the contract to begin with? … If these are the citizens of Quincy’s tax dollars being spent on these projects, those are the kind of answers that should come quickly and honestly.”

Mayor Mike Troup told Hicks that city contracts often are awarded based on the least costly proposals, and the city doesn’t always ask for a due date for completion. 

“By not putting that due date on, we get a little bit more flexibility, and we found that we’ve been able to get some better pricing,” Troup said.

Bergman said the broadcasts of the City Council meetings on the city’s Facebook page do not have good sound.

“My bigger frustration is there’s no TV (broadcast) available, and there are a lot of people who watch this on (Comcast cable),” he said. “They watch it on television, and they watch it religiously. We’re putting that aspect in that part of our public without the ability to watch these meetings and to learn and follow city government for two and a half months. And in my mind, and that’s wrong. Totally wrong.”

“I share your concern,” Conte said. “If I had known that we were going to be out for this long, I certainly wouldn’t have let them (take out the carpet).”

When Bergman asked why a carpet-less council chambers hasn’t been used, Conte said that decision was made by the city’s administration.

“For approximately two and a half months, we could have been in the chambers with the public being able to view us at home,” Bergman said. “(That) is my frustration, and I’m trying to figure out why.”

Troup said he was unaware the carpeting delay would be this lengthy. Conte said he knew the new carpet would not be available until August.

“I understand your frustration, and it’s warranted,” he said.

Bergman said a “large number of people” sit at home to watch the meetings on Comcast and feel like they have a representation.

“I know there’s always the ability to come down here to the meetings,” he said. “I know there’s the ability to be on Facebook and (watch) it, but there’s a certain segment of population that does not do that. We’ve done them a great disservice, and to those people, I apologize.

“I’m also kind of getting tired of having the council apologize for a lot of things that are not great for the taxpayers, and that’s a huge frustration. I’m just getting tired of all of it.”

Troup said after the meeting that the meetings held at the library have been satisfactory. Asked if he had been hearing comments from people who can’t watch the broadcasts, he said he had not.

“There are some aldermen who have people who are so reliant on that, which I respect, and we’re trying to make it available,” Troup said. “We’re not trying to not make our meetings (available), but we also have media that follows up (with stories after the meetings).”