Finance committee approves consultant extensions, Oxbow utility work and awards Clare Cemetery mitigation contract
Loading...
Summary
The Diversion Authority Finance Committee unanimously approved consultant contract extensions and task orders (including an item described as a $2.2 million allocation from the lands budget), authorized reimbursement to Cass County Electric for Oxbow Substation work, and awarded the Clare Cemetery mitigation project to Dirt Dynamics for $824,559.
The Diversion Authority Finance Committee on March 25 unanimously approved a package of contracting actions that included consultant agreement extensions, a utility task order reimbursing Cass County Electric, and the award of the Clare Cemetery mitigation contract.
Chris Bockergard, the authority’s contracting lead, told the committee the first two items were consultant-related: a new task order for advanced engineering that consolidates the remaining tasks and extends performance to 2028 (a not-to-exceed amount of $2,700,000 was confirmed), and a one-year extension of a master service agreement with Braun Intertech with no new task orders attached. Bockergard said the task order scope covers property-acquisition support, mitigation-program work, maintenance-assessment-district planning, and surveying.
Committee members pressed staff on whether the $2,200,000 figure discussed was new money. Bockergard clarified that the $2,200,000 is an allocation from the Diversion Authority’s lands budget that had not yet been assigned to specific consultants; it is not additional funds outside the overall lands program budget. He said remaining budget in the current task order will be closed out and some funds (roughly half a million to about $1 million, as estimated in the meeting) will roll back into the pool.
The committee also approved a utility task order to finish internal electrical work at the Oxbow Substation; Cass County Electric will perform the work and be reimbursed under the agreement.
On procurement, Bockergard said seven qualified bids were received for the Clare Cemetery mitigation project (one bid rejected for missing an addendum acknowledgment). He recommended awarding the work to Dirt Dynamics for $824,559; the committee approved the award.
Commissioner Steen moved to approve items 7a–d and the motion passed on a roll call vote with all voting members recorded as in favor (ayes/yes recorded by each member present). The committee had previously approved routine agenda items and the finance report earlier in the meeting.
The committee record as spoken during the meeting described the not-to-exceed consultant figure of $2,700,000 and discussed a $2,200,000 allocation from the lands budget; those amounts were presented as staff-reported figures during the contracting discussion.
The committee’s approval advances consultant work through 2028 as described by staff, reimburses Cass County Electric for completion of substation work, and clears the way for Clare Cemetery construction to begin this summer following standard contract mobilization and scheduling.
