John Crotty of 356 Sunshine Drive urged the Village Board during public comment to seek additional bids for an unspecified village construction project rather than proceed with a proposed contractor, identified in the comment as Keller.
"I urge the Board...I sense there is a lot of urgency that we're trying to get to a decision real quickly. And I'm concerned that it feels like we have kind of fallen into almost this commitment with Keller," Crotty said. He recommended an independent needs analysis and cited a recent municipal project in Jackson that he said was bid as a lump-sum and completed far cheaper than the village proposals he had seen.
Crotty criticized cost-plus contracting as presented by the contractor and said it lacks incentives to reduce cost or schedule. "When the big box people do a cost plus deal...they create incentive for the G. C. To save them some money. If they do a cost plus, they'll let the GCs get 30% of the savings...You know, when a guy's working at 2.5 percent, he has no incentive. The more he you spend, the more he makes," Crotty said.
He offered to help identify alternative firms and said a neighbor with commercial-construction experience could advise the village. The remarks were received as public comment; the board did not take formal action in response during the meeting.