Lake Elmo names Bolton & Menk as city engineer; Focus Engineering contract ended

The Lake Elmo City Council voted to appoint Nate Stanley of consulting firm Bolton & Menk as the city—ngineer and to approve an amendment to Bolton & Menk s the principal provider of professional engineering services for 2025. The motion, amended on the floor to include immediate termination of the city's existing contract with Focus Engineering, passed by voice vote.

Council members debated potential budget impacts and differences in billing structure before the vote. Administrator Nicole Miller told the council that Bolton & Menk ssumed responsibility as part of an asset sale involving Focus and that task orders had kept engineering services in place since Jan. 1. Miller said the recommended retainer fee to cover day-to-day engineering work would remain at $3,100 per month, the same level the city had been paying under the Focus arrangement.

Why it matters: council members said the decision preserves continuity of engineering services for immediate needs while creating a new ongoing relationship with a larger consulting firm. Some members pressed for clarity on how project-specific work and emergency repairs would be billed and how the change would affect city budgets.

Details of the agreement and debate

Nate Stanley of Bolton & Menk described the retainer and hourly-rate structure he proposed: the $3,100 monthly retainer would cover routine day-to-day tasks, while specialized or project-level work would be billed at separate hourly rates. Council members contrasted Focus rates previously used for some tasks (cited in the discussion at about $130 nd $150 per hour for certain staff) with higher specialty rates presented by Bolton & Menk for work outside the retainer (example figures discussed included $180 and $225 per hour). Bolton & Menk staff said many of the hours for typical engineering tasks would be handled by lower-cost technical staff rather than principals billing at the highest hourly rates.

Stanley and staff also said Bolton & Menk's retainer includes additional GIS and mapping services that had previously required separate contracts. The presentation noted a one-time GIS setup valued at roughly $40,000 in a prior Bolton & Menk proposal and said certain mapping and GIS maintenance would be included in the retainer going forward; staff said that inclusion partially offsets higher hourly rates for some services.

Council members asked several budget and process questions: how emergency responses (for example, water-main breaks) are handled and billed; whether the council will still authorize project-specific task orders; and whether the pooled professional-services model the city used under Focus would continue. Staff and Bolton & Menk said project-level work would continue to come before council for authorization and that the consultant selection practice for individual projects could remain project-driven.

Transition and termination

Council member discussion also addressed the technical contract transition: Focus Engineering provided 30-day termination notice in its asset sale, and staff worked with Focus to preserve continuity. The motion approved by council included a separate friendly amendment directing immediate termination of the Focus Engineering agreement so the city would not have overlapping contracts for the same services.

Action recorded

The council approved the appointment of Nate Stanley as city engineer and the amendment to the Bolton & Menk professional services agreement; the council also approved terminating the Focus Engineering agreement effective immediately.

Ending

Council members and staff said they expect a transition period during which both Nate Stanley and former Focus staff will support meetings and projects to preserve institutional knowledge. Several council members asked staff to monitor fiscal impacts and to bring any needed fee or budget adjustments back to the council for review.