January 27, 2005
Hi Joe/Stan/Frank:
As you are aware, the Holiday Decorations Project has been completed and warmly accepted by many individuals, citizens, residents, businesses and politicians. I have personally received numerous compliments regarding how good the decorations look which provides everyone with good feeling of the Holiday Season, including, comments that the City has never looked so good!
The decorations include some 200 lighted wreaths, lighted garland, mini white light stringers, low voltage white light stringers (Davis Square Trees), LED (Light emitting diodes) mini white lights (super energy savers), in addition to a ten foot (10') lighted wreath over the entrance to City Hall. Various cords, connectors and power supply material were also purchased to support the needed electrical power requirements. All of said materials were purchased through Northeast Electrical Distributors(Canton, MA), which is under a State Contract. I have personally reviewed the products and found them to be of the Highest Quality. I anticipate the City should get a least five (5) years of product life and possibly much more, but this is very dependant on weather conditions. These material will be stored in proper fashion at the old Trade School automotive shop. The total cost of said materials (to date) is $127,402.63. This is a very clear majority of bills received, although a few may be forthcoming. Said funds were derived from account 8007-57805.
The labor portion of this project was supported by Mirabella Electric (City contract) and the Department of Public Works Building Division. Mirabella installed the necessary electric systems and the DPW attached all of the decorations to supporting structures. It is noteworthy to identify that all electrical work is complete and I anticipate many years of service. In future years, it WILL NOT be necessary to have electrical systems installed to support holiday lighting, it will merely be attaching the decorations and basically plugging them in, a task which can, be accomplished by in house staff. The total cost for Mirabella Electric is $36,289.85 and said funds were derived from account #1585-57805. We also include $1,000.00 in funds for bucket truck rentals in account #1565-52730. The DPW Building Division has spent (to date) $23,899.64 in overtime labor.
Davis Square white tree lights (Year Round) have also been included in the project and I offer the following history.
In year 2000, the City negotiated with Level III Communications the installation of year round, low voltage lighting (white) in the public shade trees along Elm Street and Highland Avenue (Davis Square Area). Level III was requesting a trench through the center of Davis Square, that originated at the city line (Broadway near Johnny's Food Master). Said trench would terminate near Somerville Ave and Park Street, with extensions of the Verizon Central Office (Central & Willoughby) and also link with trenches coming up Park Street (from Cambridge, Inman Square Area).
We came to agreement with Level III, that included the installation of Electrical Outlets at the base of all trees on Elm Street and Highland Avenue. The City staff installed the mini lights with an understanding that the business's would maintain said lights,(never happened). The lights were supplied by Level III. 1 was led to believe that OHCD and Chamber of Commerce had accepted this policy. In fact, we the (DPW) even agreed to provide 12-foot step ladders to the Chamber/Business owners. I am informed that the business owners did not agree to this policy, but this was much later on after we installed the white lights.
Once the sidewalk trees were decorated and Level III was gone, the city opted to install mini white lights in the Statue Park Area. This was a last minute rush job and electrical power was not in place to support said lighting. We installed the lights on the trees and ran overhead wires between trees to provide the power. It was my understanding at the time, that additional funding (Capital) would be available the next season, to install the power systems underground (never happened).
This years lighting project included funds to replace ALL of the mini white lights (Low Voltage Safety Lights) in addition to installing permanent underground power systems at Statue Park.
Estimated Costs: Davis Square Tree Lights $21,000.00
Statute Park Tree Lights $17,000.00
$38,000.00
This project is significant in terms of accomplishment. The project materials were ordered on October 11, 2004 which is very late in the season and products started arriving the first week of November. Mirabella's electrical work was just getting completed in time for the product installation and the DPW crews started right away installing the decorations. This is also noteworthy as expenditures of this amount, in this short period of time, with a very positive outcome, is unprecedented to my knowledge.
The leadership and direction of this Administration along with the dedication of the Public Works Managerial Staff, in addition to all of the loyal and dedicated employees of the building division, have brought credit upon themselves and the City of Somerville.
By,
Joseph C. Voutour
Superintendent
Electric Lights & Lines/Project Manager