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Staff announces contracting and procurement changes; members consider regional CDL training to ease hiring
Summary
Staff told the board a new job-order contracting consultant will take over Jan. 1, an RFQ shortlist for training vendors will be posted, and the annual salt bid is issued tomorrow; members explored a possible regional CDL training program focusing first on Class B certification to help local public works recruit and promote staff.
The board received several operational updates from staff and discussed a possible regional commercial driver’s license (CDL) training program for member towns.
Staff reported that CRAG has awarded the job-order-contracting consultant contract to Facility Optimization Solutions; Gordian will continue as consultant through the end of the year and the new consultant is expected to assume responsibilities on Jan. 1. Staff also said they received about 48 RFQ responses for professional-development and training services and that a vendor one-pager list will be posted to the organization’s website by the end of the week. The annual treated/untreated salt bid will be issued tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.
On workforce-training, Kim Bishop and other members described renewed interest in bidding for regional CDL training, primarily for Class B certification to support entry-level public-works hires and internal promotions. Kim said Mansfield had signaled interest and staff had not received many other town responses so far, and asked member towns to check with public-works departments. Members raised scheduling and cost questions — how often classes would run, whether tuition reimbursement or stipends would be needed, and whether a shared schedule could meet hiring timelines.
Board members suggested next steps including surveying public works directors and transportation committees to gauge interest, exploring existing DOT or union-DOT cooperative programs as benchmarks, and considering shared-staff or grant-funded pilots (ARPIP was discussed as one potential funding route). No formal motion was taken.
Separately, the board confirmed its next regular meeting for Sept. 8 and closed the session.
