Wayne County approves $840,000 agreement with HR and A Advisors to assess county properties
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Summary
Wayne County's Economic Committee approved an $840,000 professional services agreement with HR and A Advisors to inventory and evaluate county-owned properties for redevelopment and to position the county for federal financing; commissioners pressed staff for details on staffing, public engagement and a $7,500 travel budget line.
Wayne County's Economic Committee on Economic Development on Thursday approved an $840,000 professional services agreement with HR and A Advisors to inventory and assess county-owned properties and to explore public-private redevelopment and federal financing opportunities.
The agreement, the county's assistant director of economic vitality said, follows a Department of Transportation grant and a competitive request for proposals that yielded HR and A as the awardee. "We will go identify county owned property, and do an assessment, evaluate the zoning, the market value, redevelopment potential," Lucius Anthony said, describing the consultant's role.
The contract calls for a phased evaluation and a small core HR and A team. Sharon Carney, a principal with HR and A Advisors, said the "core team at HR and A would include four people," with subcontractors assigned to specific roles such as public engagement and asset scanning. "We start with taking into account everything that the county owns," she said, adding the firm will build a model to assess parcel buildability and narrow a short list of candidate sites.
Commissioners asked for clarifications before approving the item. Commissioner Peterson Mayberry pressed staff on whether the county has in-house capacity to manage the grant and how long the manager position has been vacant: "How long has that position been open, and what's the plans to fill it?" Anthony said the county applied for the DOT grant about a year to 18 months ago, that consultant support was anticipated, and that the agreement before the commission leaves room to "bring on a, you know, an extra body if need be." The agreement amount on the agenda was described as $840,000.
Peterson Mayberry also requested a breakdown of a $7,500 line item budgeted for travel and related costs, and asked about a $56,000 allocation for public input. Anthony said the $7,500 figure was budgeted based on the RFP and could be less depending on travel; he said the public engagement costs in the proposal reflect the RFP response and that the grant specifically targets county-owned property. "It could be less, based upon travel, based upon our request for presentations," Anthony said.
Aaron Kelly, director of sustainability and innovation, told the committee staff have built a mapping tool that shows county-owned parcels and said he would re-share the link so commissioners can view properties by commission district. Anthony estimated the inventory includes "roughly over 180" county-owned properties but cautioned the number is subject to validation and change as staff reconciles land bank and facilities records.
The motion to approve the professional services agreement was made and supported, and the committee approved the contract by voice vote with no opposition recorded. The commission directed staff to provide additional breakdowns of the budget and to share the property-mapping tool with commissioners.
The agreement is scheduled to be carried out under the terms described in the RFP and the county's submission to the U.S. Department of Transportation; more detailed implementation steps and timelines were not specified at the meeting.
