Germantown board awards culvert, stormwater design contracts after debate over bids

The Germantown Village Board voted Feb. 17 to award professional service agreements for culvert and stormwater preliminary design work tied to the 2025 road program and ARIP projects.

Department of Public Works Director Matthew Mortwell explained the agreements fund preliminary design needed to build specifications and get the projects out to bid this season. Mortwell said the work was divided among multiple consultants to speed delivery: "We're requesting the award...based on kind of dividing the workload amongst consultants in order to get faster results on each of the projects," he said.

The board approved contracts with line items shown in the staff summary: $20,077 for Wagon Trail, $34,870 for Division Road (design package), $19,200 for Pleasant View Drive and $21,541 for Division Road culverts. Several trustees raised concerns about the price spread among bidders, especially for the Division Road package: Trustee Bob Warren said he was "concerned" the highest bid was roughly 50 percent above the low bid and questioned whether scopes were fully comparable.

Mortwell and other trustees defended the recommendation, saying the higher bidder (Kapoor) had prior, relevant experience on Division Road and that familiarity could reduce change orders and schedule risk. Mortwell said Kapoor had conducted prior public outreach and work on the corridor that gave staff greater confidence in their estimate.

After discussion, the board approved the awards. Roll call showed ayes from Trustees Jen Miller, Baum, Pieper, Kaminski and Village President Walter; nays from Trustees Bob Warren, Dean Katz and Rick Miller. The motion passed.