Good for the DeKalb city council. Good for former 3rd ward alderwoman, Pam Verbic, for speaking up. According to reports from the Daily Chronicle, the city council told staff, “not so fast.” At least the apparent done deal with PSA Dewberry for designing the police station won’t be a cake walk. For $1.14 million out of a $12 million project perhaps taxpayers can at least hope they aren’t overpaying for architect fees.
A majority of the city council told staff they thought the fees were too high. The structure of the fees all but insure the City will have to bond (borrow) the whole $12 million, too. The city council approved going up to $12 million in additional debt to build a new police station. Some local contractors have told me the $12 million could be set up as a guaranteed maximum price and that there are methods of providing incentives to bring the project under the maximum price. If it goes over maximum prices, sans change orders, the contractor would be on the hook.
Of course, the council would need to adopt Value Engineering before giving the contract to an architect. While they’re at it they should also prohibit the architect from being paid or accepting any commission from material suppliers.
The city council should remove any possibility that PSA Dewsberry would conduct the traffic study. As a neighbor, NIU asked in writing, for an independent traffic study to insure pedestrian safety on a busy state highway. IDOT would probably appreciate and might even demand an independent study.
Keep an eye on this one. You can be sure that CityBarbs is.
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