Town of Aquinnah

Gay Head Lighthouse Advisory Board
Notes of Meeting 8/23/2017
Aquinnah Town Hall Selectmen’s Meeting Room

Members present: Chairman Len Butler, Jim Pickman, Richard Skidmore, Kathy Rainey, and Betsey Mayhew*

Members not present: Elise LeBovit

*on conference phone

- The meeting was called to order at 4:30pm.

- The Board welcomed Kathy Rainey as a new Board member.

- 1st on the agenda under Old Business was a review of minutes from June 17th.
Richard made a motion to approve the minutes of the meeting as amended by Jim. Jim seconded.
The Board voted 4-0-1. The motion passed.

- Next on the agenda under Old Business was a review of accounts. Jim informed the Board that there is approximately $93,000.00 of available cash not including CPC funds or free cash grant. There are enough funds to both pay International Chimney's invoice and proceed with the MHC Grant. A brief discussion took place on donations and grant amounts.

- Next on the agenda under Old Business was a Lighthouse and Park Report. Richard said that there wasn't much to report on and that things have been going relatively smoothly at the Lighthouse. He presented the sign that will be placed at the site of the old Lighthouse where the bricks are protruding. Len asked about the irrigation system. Richard had spoken to Gary, who now has the manual for the system. Gary could start up the system but Richard could not. Richard felt that there has been enough rain but that the system needs to be fixed or replaced. Richard spoke about the recent emergency incident that took place in the Lighthouse. A woman had slipped and fallen down the ladder from the light room. Chief Belain reported that the woman had broken her leg and that the incident was not at fault of the lighthouse. Discussion took place on how to possibly prevent accidents like this in the future. Len asked Richard to get a copy of the incident report for the Board to have on file.

- Betsey gave a quick update on numbers. She reported that due to the weather the numbers for August are down a bit but for the season in general the numbers are good. Betsey confirmed that on July 25th there were 501 paying adults which was higher than the 309 she had originally reported. She informed the Board that Alley has been compiling a list of on-call people for when the Lighthouse gets particularly busy. - With no restoration work being done, the Board continued onto the next item on the agenda which was fund raising/grant research. Richard has been in touch with Gisele. She will be available after Labor Day to continue with Lighthouse work including the grants calendar that the Board has requested.

- Next under New Business was an MHC Grant update. Len and Richard have been working with Rick Pomeroy and Sourati to come up with the required submissions that need to get to MHC before August 31st. Rick has put together an RFP for the work planned for the fall and Len will be sending it to the Board. Len updated Kathy on the ongoing restoration project and the MHC grant process and specifications. Sealed bids are to be received by the Town Administrator by 4:30 pm on September 27th.
There is an allowable amount to spend but the RFP cannot contain a maximum not to exceed amount.
Len and Rick decided to put in a deduct alternate which would be to perform work only on one quad. Meaning that if a bid came in $50,000.00 over then what could be spent then they could opt to do only one quad this time and then pick up some other alternates such as repointing of interior brick. The RFP askes for unit pricing on all the restoration projects so that the Grant can come up with $122,000 worth of work. Jim asked if international chimney would be interested in bidding on it. Len said they are interested and he knows of one other company that may put in a bid. The schedule goes as follows: the RFP is submitted to MHC for approval by August 31st then it will be published in the papers. Jeffrey Madison has written an invitation to bid to be published in the papers after MHC approves it. Len read the invitation. He asked Jeffrey to add in the invitation that since this is a MHC funded project, MHC must approve the bids. Jim asked when the work would be done. Len said that within the bid the company must submit a timeline for the work proposed and that it must be completed by May 2018. Rick had asked Len about the insurance requirements. Len discussed what was required in past projects and the language that had been included in those contracts. Jeffrey is going to check with insurance to make sure that $2,000,000.00 will be good enough coverage and the possibility of increasing the limit.
Rick had also expressed concern in how structurally sound the Lighthouse is and having an engineer certify it. Sourati said that he wouldn’t be in the position to certify it. Len felt that no engineer would but doubted that MHC would hold the Board to having an engineer certify it. Sourati’s responsibilities would be to make sure work is done properly and that it meets specifications.
Jim made a motion authorizing Len and Richard to work with Paul Holtz, Rick Pomeroy and George Sourati to finalize the RFP and issue it as the schedule permits. Kathy seconded.
The Board voted 5-0. The motion passed.

- Next on the agenda was payment of invoices. International Chimney Corporation (ICC) had mailed in their invoice and was received at the Town Hall on August 6th. The invoice was for $84,500.00 which was the agreed upon contract price. The invoice included certified labor sheets. Len informed the Board that the work completed costed more than the $84,500.00 but ICC has waved the overage.
Richard motioned to recommend payment of ICC’s invoice in the amount of $84,500.00 to the Board of Selectmen. Jim seconded.
The Board voted 5-0. The motion passed.

- Under Other Business, the Board discussed the proposed end date for ICC of May 24th and the opening day for the Lighthouse next year. In addition, the Board discussed when to meet with the Planning Board. The Board by consensus, agreed to try to schedule a hearing with the Planning Board in November.

- With no other Business to discuss the Board agreed to meet again Thursday, September 28th at 4:00 pm. A motion was made and seconded to adjourn.
The Board voted unanimously in favor. The motion passed.

The meeting ended at 5:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Sophia Welch
Board Administrative Assistant