Marquez’s QUALITY Research and Presentation Results in Budget Increase

As the clock struck 8:30 p.m. at the Tuesday, Feb. 6 City Council meeting, all eyes turned to the center of the room as Facilities Project Manager Zuly Marquez took the speaker’s podium.

She knew the preparation that went into the speech she was about to give was thorough and her team’s research complete. The last step was to deliver a convincing presentation to the Council that funding for the upcoming Fire Station 2 reconstruction project must be increased after a budget shortfall strained their planning phase.  It’s never easy to be the bearer of bad news, and to explain to the community that the project was over budget by nearly $1.3 million was a difficult prospect.

Nevertheless, Marquez calmly and concisely demonstrated to the Council that all options to reduce expenses were explored and not feasible for the City were they to continue with the crucial public safety project.

For her impressive efforts in the planning of the fire station reconstruction, research and City Council presentation, Marquez was presented the Values VIP Award for the month of March.

Marquez has been with the City of Edina for over four years and began her current position as Project Manager in the Facilities Division in 2023. Even though Marquez’s role is a relatively new one within the City’s Engineering Department, her contributions were immediately felt as she began work on several projects, including the proposed reconstruction of Edina Fire Station 2 to better serve the Southdale area.

Throughout the planning phase of the fire station reconstruction project, Marquez and her team were in close communication with multiple departments to identify how the project could be designed to create the most effective usage of the proposed space. After receiving input from stakeholders, the team went on to select what aspects and features to include or exclude in relation to the budget and other constraints.

In late 2023, bid packages for potential construction partners were sent out, seeking companies interested in picking up contracts. But by early 2024, the Engineering Department was facing a million-dollar problem: the estimated cost of the project was coming in much higher than the initial estimates given by architects and engineers. Paired with additional economic obstacles such as the increase in price of the land parcel, the project had hit a roadblock.

“The past few years have seen some of the largest swings in construction costs and pricing escalation in recent memory,” said Facility Manager Derik Otten. “Zuly worked tirelessly to identify where the costs exceeded estimates and ways to reduce or remove any of these overages.”

Marquez’s efforts to stay within the outlined budget were not able to be made, however. “If you’re trying to make cuts to the extent of $1 million, $2 million, it gets to a point where you might have to legally re-bid,” said Marquez. “Bidders could say that with cutbacks, the project has been fundamentally changed and they could have bid and won the job, which opens up legal liabilities.”

Seeing that the only way forward was to present to the City Council and ask for a budget increase, Marquez began a month-long project to pitch her recommendation to Council. During this time, Marquez worked with in-house legal counsel and finance teams to clearly lay out the steps that led up to the budget shortfall and offer ideas as to how the project can move forward.

“It was a lot of teamwork,” said Marquez. “There was a lot of information and details in the presentation, but ultimately, I am a conduit of information to the Council … making sure to present something with full context was my responsibility.”

Marquez’s presentation, which lasted roughly 10 minutes, was analytical and highly informative, and to her surprise, no clarifying questions were asked by the Council. The package to increase funding passed the Council vote with a unanimous chorus of “ayes”. In closing, Mayor James Hovland praised Marquez on the “thoroughness” of her presentation.

“Zuly demonstrated integrity during her presentation to City Council by sharing the project in an honest, ethical and transparent manner that was understood,” said Engineering Director Chad Millner.

“We want to develop trust as staff in our City Council, our leadership and in our community,” said Marquez. “It felt really great to have the trust of the Council to move forward with this project. … I’m super excited to get going on it.”

With the funding now passed, the popular City project remains on track to break ground in May and open in late 2025.