Council raises cap on general engineering contract to $30,000; council moves to require developer-paid reviews in code update

Preston — The Preston City Council approved an amendment to its general engineering services agreement with Keller Engineering Services, increasing the contract cap from $10,000 to $30,000 to continue plan‑review and technical support for plats, water model reviews and traffic statements.

Keller representative Kolter Hollingshead told the council the firm began work in February 2025 on a time‑and‑materials basis and has reached the original cap while providing plat reviews and other day‑to‑day engineering tasks. The amendment raises the total not-to-exceed amount to $30,000; staff said how long that amount covers will depend on development activity.

During discussion Councilman Thomas and others asked why the city is paying engineering review costs rather than requiring developers to pay. City Attorney Lyle Flor and staff said an amendment to city code is in progress that would require developers to pay plan‑review costs; that change will go to Planning & Zoning and then return to council for formal adoption. The council approved the contract amendment and directed staff to continue work on the code amendment that would shift review costs to applicants.

Why it matters: the amendment lets the city keep professional engineering capacity for routine technical review while council pursues a code change to make private developers cover those review costs.

What was decided: council authorized the mayor to sign the amended agreement with Keller Engineering Services and asked staff to draft a city code change to require developer-paid plan reviews, to be processed through Planning & Zoning.