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ENGINEERING FEES NEAR $1 MILLION

DRAWS DISCUSSION FROM VICTORIA COUNCIL

Mayor Mary Thun asked City Administrator Don Uram to list both positive and negative reasons regarding Requests For Proposals to provide engineering and perhaps other consulting services to the City of Victoria.

As Councilmember Kim Roden stated, “I’m not saying I’m happy or unhappy with TKDA. But I know how hungry professional services are for work.”

“It seems no matter what we do, we bump up against a million dollars every year for engineering fees,” she continued. “It’s hard to compare apples to apples year in and year out because our projects are so different. My difficulty is to determine if we’re getting good value. I struggle with that.”

Councilmember Roden added that if TKDA gets 20% of project fees, it is to the advantage of TKDA to “gross up a project.”

Stated Cara Geheren, Victoria’s consulting engineer with TKDA, “I submit a monthly report of the work and the projects. We track the projects into three different buckets.”

She explained those “buckets” are 1) private development projects where engineering fees are reimbursed by the developer, 2) general engineering services that include day to day work for the city, and 3) infrastructure planning and design for projects that the city specifically authorizes TKDA to complete.

Cara stated that 80% of projects in the third category have consisted of Victoria’s annual street improvement projects. “We’re looking at ways to reduce our fees for 2009,” she said. “Stormwater management is a big issue this year. We look at work that can be done by city staff rather than TKDA. Maybe we can get Bill [Schwanke] to work on projects as an assistant when he comes back to the city.”

Added the engineer, “We work on an hourly basis. TKDA assistants get less per hour than I do. Some other firms charge the same high rate regardless. The way TKDA does it provides more transparency when the city administrator reviews the invoices.”

Administrator Don Uram defended the work and rates of TKDA. “I’m very comfortable that the rates we get are fairly good. The expertise we have here today is also something to consider versus the learning curve that would be required of somebody else.”

“I visit the city administrators in Carver County on a monthly basis and talk about costs,” continued Administrator Uram. “Victoria is in the ballpark. We’re consistent. And it is absolutely in TKDA’s benefit to help us do projects as cost efficiently as possible.”

He said that his efforts to hire a combination City Engineer/Public Works Director for the City of Victoria have not been successful.

Said Councilmember Jim Paulsen, “I think everybody’s intentions here are good. I have a feeling you [Don Uram] are on the right track looking for a City Engineer/Public Works person.” He added, “I don’t mind paying for work. I do mind paying for mistakes.”

Councilmember Roden referred at this point to the initial noise issue at the Water Treatment Plant and acknowledged that “TKDA stepped up to the plate” and corrected the problem at their own cost. She also referred to the large utility box placed at the property of a Baycliffe resident without warning.

“I think we always have to ask, are we buying the right stuff and paying the right price?”

PROTECTING VICTORIA’S DRINKING WATER

ADOPTING WELLHEAD PROTECTION PLAN

“Basically you want to make sure that the water your citizens are drinking is not contaminated,” said City Engineer Cara Geheren regarding the Wellhead Protection Plan. The city has three wells.

According to the Wellhead Protection Plan, “City wells can receive water from subsurface areas; therefore potential contaminant sources [to groundwater] in this area was assessed. The principal source of contamination is wells.”

Councilmember Tom O’Connor asked about the time-frame that might lead to prohibiting the drilling of private wells. “If the presence of a private well is the most dangerous thing to a public water system, why take two years?”

Said the city engineer, “It’s not a significant risk.”

Stated Mayor Mary Thun, “We don’t need more independent wells being drilled.”

A resolution adopting the Wellhead Protection Plan was unanimously approved in order to meet Homeland Security requirements and guidelines. Every public water supply in the state must have a Wellhead Protection Plan.

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