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Council extends Friese and Nichols agreement to preserve $9.6M grant work
Summary
Council adopted a resolution to formally extend the master service agreement with Friese and Nichols Inc. through January 2027, ratifying continued engineering work on a GLO CDBG-MIT regional drainage project and reallocating some work after a Flag Lake element was dropped.
Council adopted Resolution No. 23-2026 to extend a master service agreement with Friese and Nichols Inc. (FNI) for engineering services through January 2027, authorizing continuity of design work tied to a GLO CDBG-MIT regional drainage grant valued at about $9.6 million. Staff reported that FNI had continued work under verbal authorization since January 2025 and that the extension formalizes services already underway.
Staff explained that a Flag Lake portion of the project was removed after coordination problems with a private utility partner and that the city moved previously allocated funds to other improvements (sidewalk connections and box culvert upgrades) to preserve grant eligibility and avoid reissuing the RFQ and risking loss of the grant. A staff member told council, "If we did not undertake this effort, we would then have to RFQ and basically forego the entire grant the entire amount of the grant funding." The resolution passed unanimously.
Next steps: staff will proceed with the extended agreement through January 2027 and advance the reallocated scope to complete the grant-funded work.
