Wixom council approves $70,000 increase to West End Commons design budget

The Wixom City Council approved an additional $70,000 for the West End Commons design engineering budget and an associated budget amendment, a move staff said is necessary after the project received a federal Community Project Funding grant that expanded the project scope.

Assistant City Manager Drew Benson told the council the grant — obtained through Representative Haley Stevens’ office — effectively doubled available funds and expanded the scope of required design and federal compliance work, including a Section 106 historic‑preservation review. Benson said the city has already spent about $52,500 with HRC on design work, which he said is $12,390 more than originally authorized, and that the requested increase includes up to $18,000 for a subcontracted archaeologist to satisfy federal review requirements.

Benson said the design increase would help complete design work through bid review and into construction and that the city expects to complete the environmental review required by HUD and put the project out to bid in the fall. He told council the overall project cost estimate most recently was about $1.3 million, of which roughly 80% is covered by grant funds; he also listed a county grant of just over $200,000 and a DDA set‑aside of $316,000.

Council member Peter Behrman expressed concern that consultants had exceeded their retainer without earlier notice and warned against scope creep that could inflate the project to a multi‑million dollar build. Council member Sharp and others said they supported moving forward to avoid losing momentum, while acknowledging earlier invoicing and oversight questions.

The Downtown Development Authority recommended the budget amendment; the council approved the motion by voice vote.

Clarifying details captured from the meeting: the additional design request was $70,000 to raise the design engineering budget to approximately $110,000 (the agenda packet and the motion contained slightly different totals in places), HRC billing to date is $52,500 (about $12,390 over the original authorization), and the budget includes up to $18,000 for a subcontracted archaeologist to complete the Section 106/historic‑preservation review required by HUD. The project’s most recent total cost estimate presented to council was about $1,300,000 with roughly 80% expected from grant funds; county and DDA contributions were described as roughly $200,000 and $316,000 respectively.

The council approved the recommendation to increase the design engineering budget and authorize the budget amendment.