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Commission authorizes Schneider Electric design phase for city energy improvements, $57,000 design fee approved
Summary
The commission approved moving forward with Schneider Electric’s next design phase for energy and infrastructure work across city buildings and parks, including a $57,000 engineering-development fee to prepare 30%–90% plans and later project-cost proposals.
The City Commission on Oct. 6 authorized the city manager to pursue a design-phase agreement with Schneider Electric to develop energy and building-improvement plans across municipal facilities and parks, with an initial engineering and development fee of $57,000.
Public Works Director Christopher Torres said Schneider’s revised proposal expands the scope to include “every single building and park the city of Harlingen maintains,” per earlier direction from commissioners. Schneider representatives told the commission the $57,000 covers the next design and engineering phase, which will produce 30%, 60% and 90% development stages and allow the city to prioritize scope before an implementation decision.
Aaron Garcia, the Schneider project representative, said higher-level budget options were included in earlier material and that one financing option would cover about “33¢ on the dollar” for certain measures, while a fully self-funded option would remain available. “When we get to the 90% we’ll be on the same page… that’s the scope of the work that we wanna move forward with,” Garcia said.
Commissioners requested the 30% package specify which buildings would be included in a self-funded (Option 1) scenario; Schneider said those details would come back at the 30% development milestone. A commissioner asked that the final proposal include the library as a candidate for the self-funded option.
The motion to proceed with the design phase passed unanimously. City staff said the next deliverable will be a prioritized scope and project-cost estimates at the 30% design milestone, after which the commission will decide on full implementation and financing options.
Why it matters: The design work will determine the scale and cost of energy- and water-saving retrofits across municipal buildings and parks and enable the commission to consider a self-funded project or ones partially financed by guaranteed-savings arrangements. The $57,000 design fee will be rolled into the final construction contract if commissioners later approve implementation.
