Board approves HGM contract for Boomer Bridge construction management over objections

Pottawattamie County supervisors on July 12 approved a contract with HGM Associates to provide construction management for the Boomer Bridge replacement, finalizing oversight that supervisors said the interim engineer may not be able to provide in full.

The board voted to approve HGM proposal number 000725-121 for construction management at a not-to-exceed price of $57,008.77. The roll call vote recorded Chairman Jeremy Bell, Supervisor Whitman and Supervisor Jorgensen as voting yes; Supervisors Miller and Shay voted no.

Supervisor discussion focused on two issues: whether the county’s interim engineer could perform daily construction oversight and paperwork, and the risk of losing federal reimbursement if required engineer certifications and documentation were not completed. One supervisor moved to deny the HGM contract and argued the county could perform oversight in-house; that motion received a second and was debated. Another supervisor later moved to approve the HGM agreement.

Steve Moffitt, representing HGM Associates, told the board that construction management involves daily and weekly paperwork — daily reports, weekly reports, contractor pay estimates and quantity verifications — and that a licensed engineer needs to sign off on quantities and testing to satisfy Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) requirements. "If you don't have that kind of oversight, the possibility of losing those federal funds of not being reimbursed for the federal funds exists," Moffitt said. He estimated construction-phase oversight would require about 1.5 hours per day of an engineer's time and that HGM assigned preconstruction hours (about 14 hours) for preconstruction tasks including the preconstruction meeting and schedule review.

Board members opposed to contracting HGM said the county had planned and designed the project in-house, and that the interim engineer should be able to oversee the work. Those in favor said the county staff members who will be on site are not registered engineers and DOT requires a licensed engineer to certify certain documents; they argued that hiring HGM reduces the county’s exposure to losing federal reimbursement.

The board heard budget and scope context: the project construction cost was described in the meeting as approximately $1,400,000 for the bridge work (one speaker noted earlier estimates that including oversight could raise the total to about $1,800,000) and that typical federal-aid reimbursement is substantial, often 80% federal and 20% local, meaning inadequate documentation could jeopardize a significant reimbursement amount. Board members noted the DOT federal-aid agreement excludes reimbursement for certain administrative costs and that non-eligible costs are the county's responsibility.

Ending: With the HGM contract approved, HGM will begin preconstruction tasks and the county will proceed with contractor coordination and oversight under the new construction management arrangement.