Dripping Springs selects bond counsel, financial adviser and engineer; council discusses purchasing policy revisions
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Summary
The Dripping Springs City Council approved awards for three RFQs tied to potential Texas Water Development Board financing — naming McCall Parkhurst and Horton LLP for bond counsel, Samco Capital Markets for financial adviser and Burgess and Neiple Inc for engineering — and discussed formalizing purchasing policy updates before final action.
The Dripping Springs City Council on Feb. 3 approved staff recommendations to select firms for three professional services requests for qualifications (RFQs) related to potential Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) financing, and discussed proposed amendments to the city's purchasing policy.
City Attorney Nizilani told the council the RFQs were evaluated on criteria including experience with TWDB programs, team qualifications and capacity to perform. For RFQ 2025-18 (bond counsel), the evaluation committee recommended McCall Parkhurst and Horton LLP; for RFQ 2025-19 (financial advisor), staff recommended Samco Capital Markets Inc.; and for RFQ 2025-20 (engineering for TWDB-funded wastewater projects), Burgess and Neiple Inc was recommended. In each case the council voted to authorize the city administrator to negotiate terms with the selected respondent and to return any final agreements to council for approval.
The financial-advisor discussion (RFQ 2025-19) included extended questioning by councilmembers about scoring methodology. One councilmember asked why Samco was chosen over a close competitor and whether "familiarity with the city" skewed results; City Attorney Nizilani and staff responded that four evaluators scored categories and the committee averaged those scores. Chris Lane of Samco Capital Markets introduced himself during the meeting and explained that the firm has additional office resources (San Antonio, Dallas) available to increase capacity if needed.
Separately, staff presented proposed changes to the city's purchasing policy to formalize legal review of solicitation packages, require the city administrator to approve solicitation materials (or submit them to council), standardize publication and vendor-notification practices, and preserve evaluation documentation for committee members. Several councilmembers asked staff to provide more advance notice to the mayor and oversight councilmembers and raised a compliance question tied to Governor Abbott's Executive Order No. 55. Staff indicated no immediate urgency; council agreed to postpone final action and meet with staff to refine the policy language.
Votes at a glance: council approved RFQ 2025-18 awarding bond counsel to McCall Parkhurst and Horton LLP; RFQ 2025-19 awarding financial adviser services to Samco Capital Markets Inc; RFQ 2025-20 awarding engineering services to Burgess and Neiple Inc; the council also approved an ordinance ordering the 2026 municipal general election and carried the consent agenda items 1–5 earlier in the meeting.
Next steps: city staff will negotiate agreements with the selected firms and return final contracts to council for approval; staff will also meet with councilmembers to refine the purchasing policy draft and return with revised language.