HomeMy WebLinkAboutMore About Furnishings"Columns about lower back work comp claims avoided, flimsy chairs not purchased then repurchased, or
tables that didn't wobble and break are notoriously boring."
— Frustrated city managers everywhere
Exhibit E — More about the Civic Center Furniture
The new Civic Center City Hall and Library Expansion are designed to last for the next 100 years. So what
about the furniture? Unfortunately, not many furniture companies make furniture to last 100 years, but
it's amazing how long well -made pieces do last. Many folks own furniture that has been passed down
through several generations.
The City has a history of making smart purchases in the furniture department. Just two short years ago,
anyone visiting the old City Hall would have stumbled upon many desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and
bookcases that have been in use for decades. Our City Manager, Dave Kiff, used the same desk that was
used by Bob Wynn, City Manager from 1971 to 1991. That desk was over 40 years old, his chair was over
17 years old. The Public Works Director's desk was also over 40 years old. There were filing cabinets
that were older than those desks. Much of the furniture was made by Steelcase and Kimball, two well
known makers of quality office furniture at that time.
So fast forward to today. The City recently purchased new furniture for the new Civic Center. In planning
for that event, the City held back any new furniture purchases (and many facility repairs) for several
years. You may remember that discussions to replace City Hall started in 2002, so we limped along
without investing in new furniture or capital repairs to the old City Hall buildings for about 10 years.
That action allowed the City to bank repair and replacement funds — into the hundreds of thousands of
dollars - to be used in the new Civic center.
The Civic Center design team reviewed several manufacturers and lines of furniture and established
specifications based upon a balance of cost and quality. Cost and quality vary greatly in today's market
from the mass produced, overseas -made furniture that is available at the big box stores to fine furniture
that is made of exotic woods and premium fabrics.
Furniture in the public areas of the city hall and library needs to be durable and have some modest level
of aesthetics. Furniture in public areas tends to be treated similar to the way folks treat rental cars,
"Don't worry about that spill, it's a rental ". It was into these public areas — public meeting rooms and
waiting areas as well as the new children's room and study areas at the Central Library — that the most
expensive furniture went.
Furniture in the employee areas needs to last long and be functional. Additionally, furniture in work
areas need to be ergonomically correct to prevent workplace injuries and associated costs under
workers compensation and loss of productivity. A cheap "Under $100" desk chair can quickly become
very expensive due to workplace medical claims, time off, and a loss of productivity.
Systems Furniture (cabinets, files, desks, study carrels)
With the open floor plan design of the City Hall office building, our first thought was to explore the
various versions of pre- manufactured partitions. These partitions are designed to have furniture
attached to them and have built in electrical and data. Many businesses use partition systems as they
are portable when a business moves and easily reconfigured for changing needs. However, these
partition systems are very expensive. In our situation, it's unlikely that we'd be moving City Hall, but we
do need flexibility to meet the changing community services and needs.
Our design team came up with an inexpensive but effective solution. In place of expensive
manufactured partitions, they designed a simple partition made of "Apple Ply ", multilayered plywood
(yes, plywood) with veneer surfaces. The City's partition system is designed to accept various
components of standard system furniture (cabinet, file, desk, and credenza units). The design is easily
reconfigured and costs much less than manufactured partition systems.
The purchasing process for the standard systems furniture was by competitive bid. Furniture lines from
Haworth, Teknion, Herman Miller, Steelcase, and Allsteel were considered. Furniture distributors
representing the various product lines submitted competitive bids to the City. ICS, representing the
Haworth product line was selected as the lowest responsible bid for the systems furniture.
Another innovation at the Civic Center is the unique study carrels at the Central Library's expansion.
These individual study stations provide privacy, electricity, and comfort in addition to good aesthetics.
These durable carrels are among the most well -used and popular aspects of the Civic Center project,
which added additional study room and a new children's room to the already widely - popular Newport
Beach Public Library.
Chairs & Tables
The criteria for the selection of chairs and tables were based upon the various uses. Chairs and tables in
the public areas needed to be durable and of quality construction. The waiting areas have commercial
grade seating with strong metal frames and stain - resistant surfaces. The new furniture in the kids' room
at the Central Library needed to be miniaturized but still durable, fun, and comfortable. All of the pieces
are designed to last a long time and maintain appearance through thousands of users. Many of the
furniture pieces purchased have a 10- to 12 -year full warranty. They are also renewable in that they can
be reupholstered.
The Library recently reupholstered several chairs in the Central Library that were over 13 years old. This
action potentially doubles the service life of our furniture at a lower cost than replacing the furniture.
The cost of the chairs and tables ranged from $180 for guest chairs in offices to $4,000 for the larger
commercial couches in the public waiting areas, like the permit counter. When spread over the life of
the chair or table, the cost of the selected furniture is very competitive with alternative products that do
not have longevity, quality, or warrantees built into them. Similar to the system furniture purchase,
furniture distributors representing the various product lines submitted competitive bids to the City.
Pivot Interiors representing Herman Miller and other furniture lines was selected as the lowest
responsible bid for the chairs and tables.
Critics of these purchases point out that the City could have bought cheap desk chairs for under $100.
That's completely true. But cheap isn't always economical. Checking the Office Max website, you can
buy desk chairs for under $100 up to premium chairs at $850. However, the cheap chairs usually have a
use recommendation listed for casual use, "0 to 3 hours per day."
Additionally, those chairs only carry no warranty or a short three year limited warranty (limited usually
means foam and upholstery for one year, metal parts for three). The employee desk chairs that were
purchased for the Civic Center are Herman Miller Aeron chairs for about $560 each (retail $680). They
come with a 12 -year full warranty that covers everything. They are ergonomically superior to the
cheaper chairs. This is especially important when you have employees working in these chairs for 8 or
more hours each day to prevent expensive medical claims, workers compensation, and loss of
production issues.
In theory, you could buy four cheap chairs that would last as long as one of our current desk chairs with
a savings of $160 (if you can believe the warranties, 4@ 3yr vs. 1 @ 12yr). If you factor in the overhead
cost for city staff to purchase and re- purchase this chair four times along with the potential medical
claims and loss of production from a chair that is only recommended for use between 0 and 3 hours per
day, the $160 savings likely evaporates (and more).
We think we've made some very smart purchases for furniture and equipment, as the furniture
purchased for our new Civic Center will service us for many years to come. Our history of balancing cost
and quality has served us well.