Connect Community Center continues to make headway

WEST BLOOMFIELD — At its April 22 meeting, the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission heard from Kelly Hyer, the executive director for the township’s Parks and Recreation Department, who sought approval for items needed to advance a budget for the new Connect Community Center. 

Hyer requested approval of the guaranteed maximum price amendment, authorization of a fund balance allocation to support the project, and approval for the commission to hold contracts for the demolition, masonry and carpentry work.

In August 2024, voters approved a $25 million bond for the Connect Community Center, to build a recreational facility for activities and a social hub for all ages. The center will be on the Civic Center campus at 4640 Walnut Lake Road.  

However, $25 million is not the amount the township has to spend, with fees, it is about $23.7 million, according to Hyer. So, she requested a guaranteed maximum price of $23.7 million, in which the seven-member commission approved 7-0.

The next item was the authorization of a fund balance allocation of $3.5 million to support the project. This would provide a “safety net” for any additional costs accrued due to inflation, interest rates and the future state of the economy, according to Commissioner Terrance Adams, treasurer and financial chair. 

 “I wish we didn’t have to use the fund balance,” Adams said. “It is a safety net for municipalities, and in this case, we need it.”

He said the full $3.5 million does not have to be used, and he suggested its use may be avoided with further cost-cutting measures. Hyer agreed that the fund balance should only be used if necessary.

“We are good stewards (of the taxpayers’ dollars), and we are not going to spend anything we don’t have to spend,” she said. 

Adams suggested cost-cutting efforts could be implemented in the next budget. 

“We have a healthy fund balance, and even if we had to pull $3.5 million, there would be $3.5 million or more left,” he said. “As we go into the next budget year, there may be some adjustments (that can be made) until we can get the fund balance up.”

The commission approved this motion with a vote of 7-0, as well. 

Hyer’s third ask was to have the commission hold the contracts for three of the companies working on the project because they are non-union shops. This means the contracts would be in the commission’s name and the commission would be the ones to physically pay these contractors.

These companies include ABA Masonry for a contract of nearly $2.5 million, as well as Blue Star, Inc., handling demolition, and BJC Services, specializing in carpentry, with contracts of $37,000 and nearly $850,000, respectively. 

Adam Gut is the project manager from Frank Rewold & Sons. He said his company hires union and non-union contractors. However, because Rewold and Sons is a signatory on the laborers’ and carpenters’ union, they cannot hire these contractors and requested the commission to hold the contract and be the one to physically pay them. 

Commissioner Amy Mindell said she supports unions and would like to use union shops whenever the township can. She then inquired about the cost savings of using non-union contractors and was told it was $250,000 across the board.

The motion for the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation to hold the contracts was accepted with a vote of 6-1. Mindell was the lone dissenter.