Detroit council approves dozens of contracts, including demolition work and police technology upgrades

Detroit City Council approved a broad set of procurement items on Oct. 14, authorizing dozens of construction, demolition and service contracts and amendments across multiple departments.

The council approved an amendment (contract 603071-A1) extending and increasing the city’s facility-management contract for the Detroit Public Safety Headquarters to a total of $5,039,859. The public-works agenda included a bituminous resurfacing amendment totaling roughly $3.59 million and several other street and asphalt contracts. The public-safety package included purchases for DPD video walls and back-end devices and a $300,000 contract to provide a cloud-based solution to manage DPD’s secondary-employment scheduling.

Councilmember Santiago Romero read aloud amounts and contract numbers for a long list of items, and most were approved by voice. Several demolition and emergency-removal contracts (items 20.1–20.27) were bundled and approved; the council postponed discussion of two companion items (20.16 and 20.20) until the end of the agenda and then approved them after a brief staff explanation.

Group Executive Lewan Counts, who oversees construction and building operations, explained why the city split certain emergency commercial-demolition work into two contracts: an above-grade "emergency alteration" to remove the building to grade and a separate backfill contract to remove subsurface structures and handle fill. "An emergency alteration is one where we take the demolition down to the grade. We don't do a complete removal," Director Counts said, adding that separating backfill bidding allows contractors to price exposed conditions more accurately and can produce better, more competitive pricing.

Council members asked for clarity on why the split produced more than $100,000 in combined costs for a single property; Counts responded that the separation was intended to improve price accuracy and that the overall cost reflects the work required.

All read items were approved by voice vote with waivers attached where requested; one member recorded an objection on a subset of items but the package carried.

Votes at a glance

- Facility-management services (Jones Lang LaSalle) — Contract amendment approved; total $5,039,859 (item 17.1). - Multiple demolition and construction contracts — Approved (items 20.1–20.31); two companion emergency items (20.16 & 20.20) discussed and approved after staff explanation. - DPD video-wall and cloud-scheduling contracts — Approved (items listed under 20-series).

Next steps: departments will complete procurement paperwork and execute purchase orders; council members asked staff to follow up with itemized backfill pricing and procurement rationale for the emergency-demolition work.