DuPage County transportation committee approves legal, right‑of‑way and engineering contracts

DuPage County Transportation Committee members approved several procurement contracts and contract extensions at a regularly scheduled meeting, including agreements for specialized legal services, right‑of‑way negotiations and preliminary engineering for improvements along County Highway 4 (Bloomingdale Road).

The committee approved an agreement with Leach, Tishman, Biscotto and Lampeau LLC to provide specialized environmental legal services related to Highway Authority Benefit Agreements for an amount not to exceed $30,000. The committee also approved a contract with Matt Mathewson Right of Way Company for professional right‑of‑way negotiation services not to exceed $200,000 and a contract with Savora Group Incorporated for Phase‑1 preliminary engineering services for improvements along County Highway 4 (Bloomingdale Road) for an amount not to exceed $308,511. The committee discussed procurement citations for these awards, including DuPage County procurement ordinance 2‑356, DuPage County code section 2‑3531(b) and the Illinois Local Government Professional Services Selection Act.

Why it matters: the contracts authorize legal and technical work that the Division of Transportation says will be used on environmental review and property negotiation matters tied to county road projects. The engineering contract will fund preliminary design work for a bridge improvement over the Chicago Central & Pacific Railroad on Bloomingdale Road (listed as County Highway 4), which is a step in the county’s project development and environmental review process.

Details and committee discussion

- Leach, Tishman, Biscotto and Lampeau LLC — environmental legal services (specialist): not to exceed $30,000. Committee members asked why a special attorney was needed; a staff speaker explained the firm provides niche Highway Authority Benefit Agreement (HAVA) work and emergency environmental response support. As the staff speaker put it, “The first 1 is for if an applicant. So somebody that was an owner operator of a gas station and there was some leakage, if they wanted to get a no further remediation letter from the state to do that, they need a highway authority agreement.” The staff speaker also said the specialist typically requires a $5,000 retainer into an account before starting work.

- Matt Mathewson Right of Way Company — professional right‑of‑way negotiation services: not to exceed $200,000. The committee cited DuPage County code section 2‑3531(b), which allows selection when services are “not suitable for competitive bid.”

- Savora Group Incorporated — Phase‑1 preliminary engineering for County Highway 4 (Bloomingdale Road) improvements (bridge over Chicago Central & Pacific Railroad, Section 2218412 BR): not to exceed $308,511. The committee noted the vendor was selected through a qualifications‑based process and that the contract is subject to the Illinois Local Government Professional Services Selection Act.

Members questioned the use and size of the capped amounts. A staff speaker observed that the not‑to‑exceed sums are rarely approached in practice for the environmental legal work and said the larger cap gives the county “wiggle room” for niche or emergency needs.

Change orders and contract extensions

The committee also approved a package of contract extensions and an amendment to an existing contract. Among the approvals, members voted to extend contracts for a set of professional services vendors (BLA Incorporated; HR Green Incorporated; H.W. Lochner Incorporated; Knight E/A Incorporated; Rush Truck Centers of Illinois; STB Incorporated) with no change to current encumbrances and updated end dates as listed on the agenda.

The committee approved an amendment to an Alfred Benesh contract that increased the contract amount. The chair read a correction to the increase: the amendment increases the contract by $138,658 (corrected from a previously read figure of $138,568) for a new contract total of $1,001,997. The committee approved the corrected amount.

Votes and procedure

Committee members combined agenda items 6A–6D for consideration and approved the combined items by voice vote. They also combined change‑order items 7A–7H and approved that package. The motions were moved and seconded on the record; final approvals were taken by voice vote with a recorded “Aye” from the dais. Individual roll‑call vote tallies were not recorded in the transcript for these specific motions.

What the committee did not resolve

Committee discussion flagged that both 6A and 6B are with the same firm and therefore, taken together, reach amounts above standard thresholds that typically trigger additional procurement paperwork; a member asked whether a supplemental ethics or procurement form was missing. Staff said they could provide the additional documentation if desired and reiterated that past practice has allowed these arrangements when firms are appointed as special assistants to the DuPage County State’s Attorney under the county procurement ordinance.

Ending

Committee members approved the contracts and extensions as presented. The approved engineering work will proceed to the next steps in project development, and staff indicated additional procurement documentation could be supplied if requested by the committee.