Centennial council advances draft 15½-year Jacobs agreement; staff to place resolution on next agenda

The Centennial City Council on Monday reviewed a proposed master services agreement with Jacobs that would begin Jan. 1, 2026, and run for 15½ years, expanding the contractor’s scope to include additional public works, facilities, parks and code-compliance services and adding more detailed performance metrics.

City staff said the contract draft grew out of a yearlong evaluation and negotiations intended to preserve service quality while increasing operational flexibility and leveraging Jacobs’ technology and capital investments. "We really stressed our desire to perform and act as a typical municipal government would in delivering public works and, facility, landscaping, maintenance services, as well as code compliance," said Miss Moss, a staff presenter during the meeting.

The draft revises the delivery approach so Centennial can act with more "Jacobs delivery" in selected areas, staff said. That change would move some work now handled by subcontractors — including certain mowing, sidewalk snow removal and open-space irrigation repairs — to Jacobs’ direct management or its subcontractors under Jacobs’ oversight. Jeff Dankenbray, identified in the meeting as the city’s public works director, said the shift is intended to reduce recurring task orders and increase day-to-day flexibility: "If somebody goes and hits one of our block walls ... we'd rather have the efficiency and the cost savings of being more traditional in that aspect." Dankenbray also listed functions Jacobs would oversee directly, including traffic management, field services, street rehab and construction management, and he identified Jacobs staff members who would lead those efforts.

Community development director Jenny Holney said the code-compliance portion of the agreement adds explicit workload metrics and centers on voluntary compliance. "We are still ... focused on voluntary compliance," Holney said, and staff added a goal to keep cases that progress to citations, notices or abatements to no more than 10 percent of total cases. Holney also described new key performance measures and a requirement to track cases open longer than 180 days.

Staff described operational safeguards and transition plans intended to limit service disruption during implementation. The agreement would create a joint administrative manual (JAM) defining operational rules, performance metrics and designated points of contact; staff said the JAM would be completed before the contract effective date so the city and Jacobs could start operations consistently on day one. The draft also includes a provision for the city to terminate for convenience with notice (six months for code compliance, 12 months for public works in the draft) and a strengthened periodic third-party performance audit requirement, staff said.

Budget committee members who reviewed the draft raised questions about term length, cost amortization and procurement. "The catch is the length, 15 years versus 10 years," said Spencer Jordan, a citizen member of the city’s budget committee, who said spreading transition and capital costs over a longer term reduces near-term budget pressure but increases long-term risk. Jordan and other committee members urged that the city consider a competitive procurement (RFP) at the end of any long-term deal. Budget committee members also noted enhanced auditing and opt-out language in the draft that reduced their concerns about long-term risk.

Staff said the packet included a negotiated 2026 cost figure labeled "20.26"; the meeting transcript did not specify the units for that figure, and staff characterized the proposal as within the city’s current budget for the contract. Holney told council the agreement includes a formula for future annual adjustments tied to an employment-cost index and the consumer price index, capped at 5 percent in the draft.

Council discussion covered innovations, vacancy and succession requirements in Jacobs’ staffing, capital investments (including planned refurbishment and replacement of snowplows), and how snow-and-ice response would be deployed geographically. Dankenbray said the contract adds a Jacobs-maintained traveling maintenance crew and anticipated savings from fewer task orders, which staff estimated could generate more than $1 million in gross savings over the contract term from selected line items (the calculation shown in the presentation was derived from a cited $72,000 per‑year difference projected over 15 years).

After discussion, council members agreed to direct staff to place a resolution adopting the Jacobs master-services agreement on next week’s City Council agenda for a formal vote rather than to take final action at the special meeting. Staff also said, if council approves the resolution next week, they will begin implementing the JAM and other pre-effective-date tasks. The meeting transcript shows no formal, final vote on the Jacobs agreement at the special meeting.

Council addressed two additional items. Members asked staff to prepare a resolution for the council to review next week regarding a six‑city lawsuit against the state; staff were directed to bring that draft forward for consideration. The council also gave permission for the mayor to sign a coalition letter from Arapahoe County mayors to South Metro Fire expressing a preference for property tax funding rather than a sales tax, as described by staff.

The council concluded the public portion of the special meeting by approving a motion to go into executive session under C.R.S. §24‑6‑402(4)(d) and (e) to receive legal advice and discuss negotiation strategy related to an incentive request from a proposed business. The motion was moved, seconded and approved on the record.

Next steps: staff will place a resolution on the next council agenda for the Jacobs agreement, continue work with Jacobs on the JAM and other transition items if the council approves the resolution, and bring the draft lawsuit resolution back to council for review.