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Richfield council approves short-term city-engineer contract with Jones & DeMille; Thomas abstains
Summary
Council approved contracting Jones & DeMille to provide a city engineer (approx. 10 hours per week) to speed development review; staff said the work can be covered from existing budget and McLean described hour-tracking; Councilmember Thomas recorded an abstention.
The Richfield City Council voted Nov. 11 to enter a contract with Jones & DeMille to provide city engineering services for roughly 10 hours per week, a staff proposal intended to speed development reviews and troubleshooting for public works and private developers.
Staff told the council the city already has budgeted funds and that contracting brief hours with an engineer on-site would allow quicker reviews and fewer schedule conflicts with outside consultants. “It would be nice if we had our own city engineer ... they would be available to answer questions,” a staff member said, explaining the expected benefits for development review and inspections.
McLean, the consulting engineer discussed in the proposal, said the contract would track only hours worked on city tasks and that he would bill for the time he is assigned to city work. “I would bill whatever time I spent out in the city, or during city tasks,” McLean said, describing a billing arrangement that distinguishes Jones & DeMille work from time billed to the city.
Council members discussed contract structure and billing codes and raised no legal funding objections; one councilor noted the arrangement is a way to test the value of having a local engineer on retainer. When the council moved to authorize the contract, the motion passed and Councilmember Thomas recorded an abstention.
Next step: city staff will finalize contract terms with Jones & DeMille and track hours under a dedicated billing code.
