Finance committee recommends bringing Cadence Consulting to full board for owner’s-rep work, requests pre-referendum cost estimate

The Manitowoc School District Finance Committee on Jan. 6 voted to forward a recommendation to the full school board to consider contracting with Cadence Consulting to serve as the district’s owner’s representative for long-range facilities planning and potential referendum work, contingent on a pre-referendum estimate of services and hours.

Committee chair Keith Shaw said the recommendation followed a review of four firms and meetings with district leaders. "We looked at 4 different companies or entities, including CESA 10, Nexus, Hoffman Construction, as well as Cadence," Shaw said during the meeting. He and district executives recommended Cadence as the best fit.

Mike Hacker, founder of Cadence Consulting, described the firm’s role as providing tailored owner’s-rep services that can include community facilitation, referendum support and project-management tasks such as writing RFPs, reviewing bids and tracking payment applications. “Cadence is me,” Hacker said, explaining that he brings architectural training and recent owner’s-rep experience to his clients.

The committee’s memo and discussion said Cadence would be engaged on an hourly basis and that the scope would be set by the district. Shaw and other committee members asked Hacker to provide a pre-referendum estimate of hours and costs; Hacker said he could provide a follow-up estimate and was open to retainer or not-to-exceed arrangements if the district preferred.

Committee members discussed differences between Cadence’s hourly owner’s-rep model and other firms’ fee structures. One committee member summarized the distinction: some firms provide design-build or percentage-based construction management, while Cadence’s hourly model is intended to give the district control of costs during pre-referendum and facilitation work. The committee also noted the district has budgeted funds for the work in the current fiscal year.

During discussion committee members emphasized the value of community engagement and clear, concise public materials. Several members said they had received positive references for Hacker’s facilitation work in nearby districts and that an owner’s rep could function as an extra set of technical and project-management hands during referendum planning and later implementation if projects pass.

The committee approved a motion to forward the Cadence recommendation to the full board for consideration, with the condition that Hacker return a pre-referendum estimate of hours and fees. The motion passed by voice vote; members called for the item to be placed on the next available board agenda so work could begin prior to a referendum if the board approves.

The committee did not finalize a contract or approve spending beyond budgeted funds for the current fiscal year; members asked staff to provide comparisons of fee structures for board review before a final commitment.