Council agenda includes $421,789.92 agreement to embed engineer with Thompson Engineering amid heavy project load

The Mobile City Council’s agenda included an independent contractor services agreement with Thompson Engineering for $421,789.92 to provide an embedded engineer to the city’s engineering department, city staff said. Council discussion focused on the department’s current workload and how an embedded consultant would increase internal capacity. City engineering staff said the department has two licensed engineers managing approximately $113,000,000 worth of work and that an embedded, experienced engineer would help manage design consultants and project delivery. “Right now, we in the engineering department, we have 2 licensed engineers with a little bit of support staff managing about a $113,000,000 worth of work,” a city engineering staff member said during the meeting. The engineering staff described projects that could be assigned to the embedded engineer, including Shipyard Road and a boat launch, multiple Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) sidewalk grants, downtown sidewalks, and two large drainage projects identified as Woodcock Ditch and Carlisle Ditch. They said Thompson would provide a veteran engineer with about 20 years of experience who would work in the office alongside staff. Councilman Ramos said he supported using outside engineering services to increase capacity: “I’m glad that we’re using some outside engineering services to oversee some of our projects, you know, as we’ve got so much going on.” Other council members said the approach has worked in other city departments and praised the use of embedded consultants to move projects to construction. The agenda item was presented as an authorization for the city to enter the contract; no vote or final approval was recorded in the transcript excerpt provided. The transcript discussion did not specify a mover, seconder, or a formal vote tally. Background: Meeting presenters likened the proposed embedded-engineer model to previous consultant embeds used elsewhere in the city and said the goal is to accelerate projects that are delayed by limited internal staffing. The council discussion named the McGregor Road project as an example where an embedded project manager improved timing and budget performance. Next steps: The contract appeared on the council agenda for consideration; the excerpt does not record whether the council approved the agreement at that session.