Councilors question $949,700 contract to plan lead service line replacements

The city’s water department asked the Syracuse Common Council to authorize a contract with GE Consulting Services for planning and engineering support to manage a lead service line replacement program, not to exceed $949,700.

Robert Brandt, Commissioner of Water, said the firm would manage the program’s planning and procurement, supervise field representatives and help coordinate multiple contractor teams during a citywide replacement effort. “They’re going to handle the whole operation of our lead service line replacement for the city of Syracuse,” Brandt said.

Councilors questioned the price and funding source. One councilor asked, “A million dollars for a plan seems like a lot of money,” noting concern about using grant funds for engineering rather than replacement work. Brandt replied the replacement funding comes from a grant and the city sought to preserve grant dollars for replacements; the engineering contract would be covered by in-house funds so the grant could be used for capital replacement work.

Brandt said the grant program itself required an engineering service to design the plan. He told councilors the city intends to seek additional grants for future replacement work and that the GE contract would support both the initial rollout and longer-term strategy.

Councilors also asked about the grant scope (Brandt referenced a $25,000,000 figure as part of the broader replacement effort) and that the $949,700 engineering contract is separate from that replacement funding.

No vote was recorded in the transcript. Brandt said the firm was selected through a qualifications and evaluation process and councilors asked for clarity about the contract’s scope and the interplay with grant-funded replacement work before final action.

Speakers quoted in this article are drawn from the meeting record.