The Mount Vernon City Council voted to authorize the Safety-Service director to select a construction manager for the Mount Vernon Justice Center during its July 13 meeting.
According to a video recording of the meeting, Cigarette Parks, vice president with The Pizzuti Companies, said the construction-manager-at-risk (CMAR) model is preferred for specific reasons. "The main one is it transfers the risk for the project away from the project owner and gives it squarely to the construction manager who holds all of the subcontractor contracts. It's administratively less burdensome for the project owner. It facilitates coordination among the trades. CMAR helps with the pay application process as the owner -- in this case the city -- only has the CMAR as a contact. It capitalizes on cost containment opportunities early in the project, which leads up to the guaranteed maximum pricing. These points make it a reliable delivery model enabling the project to progress more efficiently and with much less risk to Mount Vernon," Parks said.
Parks also responded to questions about drawbacks to using CMAR by saying sometimes construction managers require more supervision but that request for proposals and best value selection processes help ensure qualified candidates are chosen, she said. "The only true risk is when the project owner rushes the process, but she doesn't see that as a worry on this project. More than half the team on this project is also on the police station project, giving some team synergy," according to a video recording of the meeting.
Safety-Service Director Tanner Salyers said, even with council approval there will be at least two or three months of administrative work ahead. This includes issuing a request for qualifications, grading responses from companies, accepting proposals, and then bringing on board a chosen CMAR, according to a video recording of the meeting.
Salyers described that having a contractor manager serves as an extension of staff for very specific purposes and that The Pizzuti Companies act as an owner's representative overseeing contract managers. Parks added that contract managers facilitate specified scopes of work from beginning to end and help relieve workload from city staff who have other full-time responsibilities. Council member Taylor Jacklin said this would benefit an already busy Engineering Department.
