Ferndale approves $328,750 contract to map water, sewer and other assets

The Ferndale City Council on Monday approved a $328,750 contract with OHM Advisors to collect field data and build a unified GIS inventory for the city—s water, sewer and other public assets. The council voted unanimously to authorize the DPW director to amend line items to cover the cost.

City staff said the project will consolidate decades of legacy maps, as-built drawings and spreadsheets into a single ArcGIS dataset with high-accuracy field locations and asset attributes. "It will allow us to make better decisions as a city and a department of public works," said Jake Morawski, project manager with OHM Advisors.

The contract covers inventory and inspection of roughly 5,760 discrete assets and about 150 linear miles of water and sewer infrastructure, city staff said. OHM—s work is expected to take about 12 months; DPW staff estimated doing the same work internally would take eight to 10 years.

Why it matters: staff said improved GIS will speed preventative maintenance planning, emergency response and capital project prioritization and will reduce time spent on routine field investigations. DPW presented estimates that if utility-locating tasks were reduced by seven minutes each across roughly 4,500 locates annually, the city could save about 525 labor hours (roughly 0.3 full-time equivalent) per year.

Discussion: DPW described current data gaps and inaccuracies in existing maps and showed examples where sewers, manholes and valves were not consistently recorded. Staff said hydrant and valve attributes, manufacturer data and photos collected in the field will make repairs faster and allow more accurate budgeting for parts and replacements.

Procurement and timeline: Council asked whether the city went to bid. DPW said it conducted reference checks with peer cities (Oak Park, Birmingham, Livonia, Saline, Southfield, Novi) and price-checked similar consulting engagements; the city did not run a competitive RFP for this scope. DPW described OHM as a recognized provider for this work and emphasized the benefit of an integrated single contract to accelerate delivery.

Budget and next steps: DPW reported the budget will cover the contract through a reallocation in the water and sewer line items; staff noted budget adjustments of about $359,000 were identified to cover the $329,000 portion for this proposal. The final deliverable will be an inspected, georeferenced asset dataset with hyperlinks to CCTV, as-builts and historical files, and city staff said future efforts will attach ongoing work orders and CCTV records to the GIS to keep data current.

Outcome: Motion to approve the OHM Advisors field inventory and GIS development contract passed on a roll call vote; finance staff were authorized to amend the appropriate line items.