The Town of Plattekill is moving full speed ahead with a proposed community center by enlisting the help of the Ulster County Purchasing Department to draft a Request For Proposal (RFP) to solicit bids to build the center at Thomas Felten Park.

Ulster County Director of Purchasing Ed Jordan and Principal Buyer Mike Maphis met with the Town Board at the second workshop meeting about the proposed community center on Aug. 25 to get the ball rolling on the RFP that will attract firms that will design and erect the center that can accommodate 300 people.

At the same meeting, the town’s Park Expansion Committee unveiled an eight-question survey requesting feedback from town residents on the four-season building where people from the community can meet for social, educational and recreational activities. The Town Board requested that a few changes be made to the questionnaire, which the committee will make before it is distributed to town residents.

Ulster County Legislator Kevin Roberts, who represents the Town of Plattekill in the legislature, facilitated the meeting between the county purchasing department and the board.

Jordan went over the procedure to put together an RFP for the construction of the proposed community center. Jordan said the first thing his office did was review several RFPs from other towns and municipalities around the country that were soliciting bids on similar projects.

“We have a standard document that we use,” Jordan said. “We’ll get the information from you and plug it into a document and issue it and we’ll help you with the RFP process. It’s obviously going to require a lot of input and feedback from the town.”

Supervisor Joseph Croce said the board has generally agreed that the community center would be large enough for 300 people and would include restrooms, a meeting room, a stage, an office, storage space and a small kitchen.

Jordan said most RFPs provide an estimated cost for the job so vendors have an idea if they want to bid on the project or not.

Councilman Dean DePew said the town may not be able to provide that information just yet.
“We’re just getting things going,” DePew said. “We don’t know whether it’s going to come in hypothetically (at) $700,000 or $1.2 million. That’s a big span.”

Croce said the town could compare the costs of other proposed community centers in the region to possibly come up with a projected price range for the RFP.

He said, for instance, the Village of Walden has a proposed community center that would hold 350 people.

“Their price tag was $925,000, which I thought was incredibly cheap,” Croce said. “But I’m not in the construction business so I don’t really know.”

Jordan said that RFP estimate didn’t include design services for the Walden project. He said that would bump up the final cost.

Jordan said generally the design charges are about 10 percent of the overall construction cost. So if it is estimated that the building would cost $1 million, an additional $100,000 would be added for designing the building.

Roberts said he had contacted Senator James Skoufis (D-Woodbury) about securing grants to help pay for the community center.

“They would like estimates before they talk about grants,” Roberts said. “I think you need to move forward on the cost before you talk about getting grants.”

DePew asked if the town could use its town engineering firm to come up with a cost analysis and Jordan said, “I think you can engage them.”

Croce said the next step before putting out an RFP would be for the town to get an estimate from the engineer.

Following the meeting, Jordan said that this is the first time in his 12 years with the purchasing department that he can recall Ulster County being asked to assist in putting together an RFP for a township.

“It’s a very large project,” Jordan said. “And there isn’t a procurement team in place for a place like the Town of Plattekill, so we’re glad to help out. But it’s uncommon.”

Laura Dougherty, secretary of the town’s Park Expansion Committee, presented the proposed community center survey to the board. It included questions ranging from whether it was needed to what the building could include.

DePew asked that one question be changed in the survey. That question asked how much a family would be willing to pay in taxes annually to build and maintain the community center.
“I think that casts a negative shadow on the whole project,” DePew said.

DePew suggested the question exclude a suggested dollar amount and be changed to: “Knowing that this may increase your taxes, would you still feel the same way about the project?” he said.

After some discussion, the board asked that the question be changed to wording similar to what DePew offered.

Dougherty said the survey would be sent out via Survey Monkey and passed out at events like Plattekill Day. She said the board would decide when the poll would go out after the questionnaire has been changed to reflect the board’s wishes.