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Braidwood council approves contract to design Old Smoky dog park; one commissioner objects
Summary
The council approved Ordinance 2026-40 to hire RVI for a concept and construction-document package for a dog park at Old Smoky, with Commissioner Walsh voting no and calling the park a 'want' rather than a need.
The Braidwood City Council approved Ordinance 2026-40 to authorize a professional-services agreement with RVI planning/landscaping/architecture to produce a concept plan and construction documents for a dog park at the Old Smoky site.
City management said the agreement funds RVI to prepare the concept plan and then move into construction documents so the project can be bid; staff said they are working with the park district on site selection and are targeting late September for groundbreaking. The consultant told the council the scope is intended to allow the city to solicit competitive construction bids once plans are complete.
During discussion, a council member asked whether the city must competitively bid professional services. Staff explained that Illinois procurement law does not always require competitive bidding for professional services and that the city customarily uses requests for qualifications or requests for proposals to evaluate qualifications and portfolios rather than lowest bid alone.
Commissioner Walsh cast the lone dissenting vote. "I voted no because I just think that there are certain needs and wants of the city," he said, calling the dog park more of a "want at this point." Other council members voted to approve the ordinance.
The contract discussion included budget parameters: staff noted RVI initially proposed about $29,000 and later lowered the fee to $25,000 by removing certain presentation services; council said construction management and quality-control tasks would be included in later procurement steps.
The vote authorizes the mayor to execute the professional-services agreement with RVI and directs staff to proceed with plan development and subsequent bidding. The council confirmed the motion by recorded vote (majority in favor; one no).
