Story posted Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Village Hires Firm To Oversee Major Projects
Glenview trustees approved a $2,254,164 annual contract with Baxter & Woodman (BW) at their Tuesday, Mar. 2 meeting for a term of five years that consolidates all contracts in the areas of engineering services, inspection management and landscape management under BW's control.
Baxter consolidated 20 contracts into one. They will oversee all subcontractors now providing those services and will oversee 12 other existing public works contracts.
The contract will increase each year to match the Consumer Price Index, or 3%, whichever is less. Village officials expect the deal will save Glenview over $685,000 per year.
A senior BW employee will work as a full-time project manager at village hall overseeing contracted work in the three specified areas, and providing water system oversight for the Glenview and North Maine water systems.
BW will incur a $150,000 penalty if the project manager is reassigned within the first three years. BW Vice President and COO Lawrence Thomas will be assigned as the project manager if the assigned project manager resigns within the first three years. The village also has a 90 day trial period to assess performance of the project manager.
The village also has an "out" clause in the contract. They may terminate the contract with BW without cause at any time with 180 days notice.
Other village outsourcing contracts, such as the one with Lauterbach & Amen to oversee many of the village finance department functions, will not be affected by this agreement.
BW will provide village trustees with regular updates.
Deputy Village Manager Chris Clark has been working to put this deal together for the last nine months. The village took eight requests for proposals including two, BW and CH2M Hill, for full consolidation of all requested services and six that included some but not all requested services.
Those eight were narrowed to five that then interviewed with a steering committee of village officials. BW was already known to village officials as the company has been providing engineering inspections and water services to the village for several years.
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