Council approves consent agenda items 7–12 and 14–30, tables item 13; several consent items discussed during Q&A

The Grand Prairie City Council on May 6 approved the consent agenda items 7–12 and 14–30 and tabled item 13 to a later date, following public questions and staff explanations on several consent items.

The council’s consent vote followed extended public and council inquiry on several individual items. Questions and staff responses during the consent discussion included:

- Professional engineering on an as-needed basis (item 8): Director of Transportation and Mobility Carol De Vries explained the city used a Request for Qualifications process (not a dollar bid) for on-call engineering, notifying 1,535 vendors and receiving 14 responses; two firms were shortlisted to permit rapid response for smaller street/drainage/storm projects. The as-needed contract allows up to $500,000 in aggregate but carries no guaranteed spending; funds are encumbered only when specific projects arise.

- Neighborhood drainage study (item 14): Director of Engineering and Utility Services Noreen Housewright described a proposed stormwater/drainage study priced at $103,820 to evaluate topography and options…