Commission approves $320,000 electrical contract for basin work after debate, subject to city attorney review

Mount Clemens commissioners approved a $320,000 contract with Electric Power Systems to install an automatic transfer switch and related engineering, testing and safety work at the city's basin, voting to finalize the deal only after the city attorney reviews and clears the contract.

The contract drew extended discussion because commissioners said they were concerned it had not been rebid after an earlier procurement cycle. Lenny, the utilities director, said the city ran a formal bid process last year but the low bidder proved unable to perform and would have installed the work incorrectly. “We ended up going back to the drawing board and I had to find another company to do it,” Lenny said, adding Electric Power Systems was the most qualified contractor he could find and has previously done high-service pump and electrical-panel work for the city.

Commissioner Mener pressed for details about why the work — described by staff as including design, installation, programming, testing and safety studies — was not issued as an RFP or rebid in the current scope, and said, “a project for $320,000 in my opinion should have been bid.” Lenny responded that the new scope includes extensive engineering and safety work (arc-flash analysis and other studies) that were not included in the original bid package.

The city attorney advised the commission to delete several standard vendor terms (including choice-of-law and certain warranty provisions) before final approval. After a motion, the commission approved the contract conditioned on the city attorney’s final approval of the agreement and deletions of problematic standard clauses.

Commissioners framed the decision as balancing procurement process concerns with the operational need to complete work that staff said is necessary to prevent flooding if power is lost at the basin. “If we lose power at the basin then potentially the whole city can flood,” Lenny said, noting the public-safety risk.

Next steps: the contract will be finalized and executed after the city attorney signs off on the redlined agreement; staff indicated equipment orders are already in motion and installation was expected to be completed within a short period once the switch arrived and installers started work.

Votes and formal action: the commission voted to approve the Electric Power Systems contract subject to city-attorney approval (motion recorded on the transcript; final roll-call recorded as unanimous yes votes).