Council ratifies Monroe Street engineering agreement after council seeks clearer project definition

The Harahan City Council voted 5-0 May 15 to ratify an agreement with Linfield Hunter and Junius Inc. for engineering work on Monroe Street, adopting an amendment to explicitly tie the agreement to FP&C project 50-MC1-24-01.

Council members spent an extended portion of the meeting asking for clarity about the contract's scope and engineering costs. Councilman Jason Asbille expressed concern that the contract lists a fixed engineering fee and supplemental services — including a $58,120 base lump-sum engineering fee and a $96,000 resident inspection cap — but did not clearly state whether those amounts applied only to Monroe Street or to a bundle of streets under the FP&C project.

Asbille said, “I am not prepared to ratify a contract that's been signed, when we don't know the full budget of it. So I would when it's appropriate, I'll make a motion to defer.” Other council members and staff clarified during discussion that the FP&C project number listed in the resolution corresponds to a $1,500,000 FP&C allocation and that the engineering agreement was prepared to address Monroe Street improvements under that project number.

To resolve uncertainty, Councilman Chatelaine moved — and the council approved — an amendment making the council’s ratification contingent on amending the agreement language to more accurately define the work as part of FP&C project 50-MC1-24-01. After voters approved the amendment language the council then ratified the agreement as amended, 5-0.

Why it matters: Council members emphasized the need to ensure engineering fees and inspection costs are appropriate for the actual scope of work. Several members questioned whether the listed engineering amounts could represent fees for the entire FP&C allocation rather than just one street. The council requested staff to circulate a short amendment to the agreement (a one-page amendment to Junius/Winfield) to make the project definition explicit.

Action and next steps: Council ratified the agreement as amended and instructed staff to produce the amendment tying the engineering contract to FP&C project 50-MC1-24-01 for review. Council members also asked staff and the engineer to confirm what tasks are covered by the fixed fee and what would be treated as supplemental services requiring separate authorization.

Ending: Council members deferred to staff to finalize the amendment language and return documentation for the record; they indicated they would review any further contract modifications or additional streets under the FP&C project in future meetings.