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Macomb council approves TripMaster transit system and awards several public-works contracts
Summary
On Sept. 17, the Macomb City Council authorized participation in the 791 Purchasing Cooperative and awarded TripMaster scheduling and fleet-camera software plus multiple street and maintenance contracts, including a $58,000 Western Avenue repair and a $54,584 crack-sealing contract.
Macomb's City Council on Sept. 17 voted to join the 791 Purchasing Cooperative and to award a TripMaster transit scheduling, camera and vehicle-management package, alongside several public-works contracts for street repairs and maintenance.
The council authorized the TripMaster award for $70,739.55 and a one-time setup fee of $82,908 after Transit Director Miss Petrino described the package as a consolidation of three existing systems. "This software would cover both of our fixed route as well as our demand response vehicles," Petrino said, adding it would add GPS tracking, live camera feeds and automatic passenger counters and would reduce the cost of maintaining three separate vendors.
City staff framed the cooperative purchase as a cost-saving measure and the city attorney noted the interlocal arrangement is permitted under the Illinois Intergovernmental Cooperation Act. The resolution allowing participation in the 791 cooperative passed; the TripMaster award carried on a roll call vote of the full council.
Public works items approved at the same meeting included: awarding Western Avenue concrete repairs to Lavadeer Construction Inc. for $58,000; a crack-sealing contract to Asphalt Services Inc. (doing business as Casco) for $54,584 (budgeted at $70,000); and a pavement-markings contract to Varsity Striping for $30,156 after the council waived formal bidding because no timely bids were received. "We did only receive one bid...and so I'm asking for approval of that," Public Works Director Alice told the council, noting staff solicited multiple vendors.
Council also approved a $25,200 change order to the sanitary sewer-lining project to install T-liners where two homeowner service connections were found to have failed televising inspections. "The T-liners were actually the less expensive of the two alternatives," Alice said, describing the decision to insert top-hat style liners rather than excavate.
Votes on the procurement and contract matters were recorded by roll call; most measures carried unanimously. Earlier in the meeting, council adopted a separate intergovernmental agreement with Western Illinois University to support recording and streaming of public meetings, a measure that carried with one abstention.
The actions respond to a mix of maintenance needs and near-term operational upgrades for the city's transit service; officials said the TripMaster system will also simplify federal and state reporting by automating passenger counts and generating required forms.
Council adjourned the public portion of the meeting and moved into executive session on a separate real-property matter later that night.
