City Hall furniture bid too high for some commissioners

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Despite serious misgivings over a proposed $755,000 furniture purchase for the new Key West City Hall, the resolution passed by a one vote margin at the Dec. 2 city commission meeting.

The bid for what was termed “high end furniture” was more than 50 percent above the original $500,000 estimate for fixtures and includes hydraulic desks that can be raised and lowered and electric window blinds. Almost none of the current office furniture used by staff in the Habana Plaza temporary city hall will be moved into the new building.

City Manager Jim Scholl said the furniture bid, which was separated out from the $18.8 million construction contract, is exempt from sales tax. He also said that builders have been able to reduce construction costs by approximately $200,000 under budget, which will help pay for the furniture.

“I don’t think this is an outrageous cost for what we are getting for that building and what we’ve already put into that building,” he said, adding that the furniture bid is about five percent of the total project cost. Normally, he said, furniture costs total seven to eight percent of a project.

That got under Commissioner Margaret Romero’s skin.

“If we can do it for one percent, that’s money in our city and over taxpayers’ pockets,” she said.

Scholl said that the Herman Miller-made furniture would cost over $1.7 million at normal retail costs but the vendor is discounting the furniture. That didn’t persuade Romero to vote for the resolution.

“When I look through the list and see side chairs for $600, and that’s the discounted cost, I plain and simply cannot support this,” she said.

Romero was joined by commissioners Billy Wardlow and Sam Kaufman in voting to throw out the bid and start over. But that left them one vote short.

Wardlow, the former city fire department chief, was clearly annoyed that the new fire station on Simonton Street didn’t get the same quality of furniture. He said the two-inch mattresses in the new station were so uncomfortable that some firefighters brought their own to the station to use.

“We’ve got a lot of nice furniture over there in [Habana Plaza] City Hall I think a lot of it should be moved,” he said.

And Commissioner Kaufman pointed out that the furniture list included 116 chairs that retail at $1,370 each. Even with a discount bringing the price to $700, he said he could not “in good conscience” say the price was reasonable.

“A chair should not cost $1,400. The question is do we need high end furniture? I think we can get their same durability with less high end furniture,” he said.

Commissioner Jimmy Weekley pointed out that the resolution said the furniture purchase cannot exceed the set amount of $754,600. Scholl and his staff are going to try to whittle the amount down with the vendor, he said. And Scholl said that buying more ergonomically, “state of the art” designed furniture would add a level of comfort and durability that could lead to increased productivity from City Hall staffers.

Project architect Bert Bender told commissioners in a memo that much of the current furniture in City Hall was made of flimsy particle board.

“It was determined that most of the furniture would not survive a major move. And the various sizes made ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliance difficult, and in some cases, impossible,” he said.

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