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Trustees direct staff to proceed with counterproposal on engineering rate increase; transcript uses multiple firm spellings
Summary
Trustee Clayton presented a negotiating team's counterproposal to the village's engineering firm (transcript includes multiple spellings of the firmname). Trustees signaled support to present the proposal, which uses 2024 as the base year and would limit increases in a way the board estimates would imply a roughly 4.7% increase and an approximate $403,000 total spend for the coming year; a detailed scope analysis is due mid‑March.
Trustee Clayton updated the board on negotiations with the village's engineering firm (the transcript uses several spellings, including "Goalt Hamilton," "Gault Hamilton" and "Gewalt"). He said civil engineering salaries are rising about 6–7% annually and that the firm updated its 2026 rate proposal to cap annual increases at 7.5% for five years using 2025 as the base year.
Clayton presented a counterproposal for the board's sense: use 2024 as the base year for the cap and limit increases to the lesser of a 15% rise from 2024 rates or a 7.5% rise from 2025 rates. Using the village's hours from the last year, Clayton said that formula would imply an approximate 4.7% increase from 2025 to 2026 and total spend of roughly $403,000. He noted attorney Hovard pointed out some engineering work is billable and refundable to the village when tied to development projects.
Trustees present expressed support to "go forward" with the negotiating team presenting the counterproposal, and Clayton and Trustee Jamerson were identified as the negotiating team. Trustees clarified this is a one‑year approach rather than a multiyear formula and asked staff to prepare a scope analysis, which the board expects by mid‑March.
Because the transcript contains multiple spellings of the firm's name, this article uses the transcript variants and does not assert an authoritative single spelling; verification of the engineering firm's official name is recommended before publication.
