Committee questions outsourcing of 'board-up' work as commissioner outlines costs and standards

The Committee on Legislation considered a contract between the City of Buffalo and Hannon Demolition to provide board-up services and pressed the city commissioner on why the work is being outsourced.

"One of the things that I've been charged with is to take over the board up and the board up operations," said Lou Petrucci, commissioner of Permits and Inspection Services, describing a planned shift to streamline referrals so the city handles its own board-ups rather than relying on other offices. He told the committee the city previously relied on the Department of Public Works, which typically used a supervisor and two laborers and took about "3.5 to 4 hours" per job. Petrucci described pay rates "somewhere in that $25 per hour rate" for laborers and about $50 for a foreman, and he said typical per-job costs fell in the low-thousands range depending on openings and materials.

Council member Bowman asked whether this represents a permanent shift or a temporary measure and whether emergency board-ups would be handled by contractors or by city crews. Petrucci said contractors responding to the RFQ are structured to operate 24/7 and would be the "primary" responders for emergency board-ups; city crews would serve as a secondary option when contractors could not respond. He also said the city received several RFQ responses but was left with two viable candidates and that the Department is carrying "about a 110 boarding requests that are pending right now." The committee moved to send the contract-related items to the full council without recommendation.

The discussion focused on operational logistics, vendor capacity and ensuring the work meets city specifications rather than on approving specific contract dollar amounts. The committee did not adopt or reject the contract at the meeting; it mailed the items to the full council for further consideration.