Submitted By
Bill McKenna, Village Engineer/Assistant Public Works Director
Reviewed By
Erin E. Baynes, Assistant to the Village Manager
Agenda Item Title
Title
A Resolution Approving a Three-Year Master Agreement with an Option to Renew the Agreement for up to Two Additional One Year Periods with Civiltech Engineering, Inc. for Professional Transportation Engineering Services and Authorizing its Execution
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Overview
Overview
The Engineering Division requested qualifications and ultimately a proposal for professional transportation engineering services. The proposal requested the provision of staffing and consultant support to oversee and administer the Village’s transportation systems, related projects, and planning studies. Civiltech Engineering was selected as the most qualified firm for this work. This Master Agreement provides for an initial period of three years with an option to extend annually for two additional one-year periods. Future services will be administered using a task order system which will eliminate the need for requesting qualifications for the various services.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
Adopt the Resolution.
Background
Due to the upcoming retirement of the engineer currently performing traffic engineering duties and the inability to attract qualified applicants for this position, the vacant Transportation Engineer/Assistant Village Engineer position, and the Civil Engineer II (CE II) position associated with transportation, the Public Works Engineering Division issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for a consultant to provide transportation and traffic engineering services. The Village received four responses to the RFQ and selected Civiltech Engineering as the most qualified consultant that best fits the needs of the Village.
The work will generally consist of providing part-time staffing at the Village approximately 3-days per week for a transportation engineer to administer the day-to-day duties related to overseeing and managing the Village’s transportation systems; providing customer service for questions or calls related to transportation; performing and reviewing various transportation studies; overseeing and administering the traffic calming petition process; and overseeing the planning and implementation of the various transportation and safety plans done by other consultants such as Vision Zero and the Bike Plan.
Under this proposed Master Agreement and associated Task Orders, Civiltech will serve as the transportation engineer for the Village for the next three to five years. The Village would not backfill the soon-to-be vacant Civil Engineer II traffic engineering position or the additional Engineering division vacancy as staff evaluate the effectiveness of the consultant. Staff also propose to remove the “Transportation Engineer” descriptor title along with some job description language from the Assistant Village Engineer position to attract new interest in the position. This position has been vacant since those changes were originally made. If successful, the changes would be formalized with an organization chart change presented to the Board at a future date.
Civiltech has previously worked with the Village for traffic engineering services associated with the traffic calming petition process and has done an excellent job. The existing agreement with Civiltech for these services will be terminated upon approval of the proposed Master Agreement and the separate Task Order for transportation engineering staffing and support services.
The primary staff proposed by Civiltech for providing on-site staffing as the day-to-day transportation engineer is Kristen Hahn. Ms. Hahn is a licensed Professional Engineer, a registered Professional Traffic Operations Engineer, and a resident of Oak Park. She will be supported by the existing Civiltech staff associated with the traffic calming petition processes (Steve Pautsch and Anmol Shrivastava) and a large team of Civiltech’s traffic engineers and transportation planners. Support for large projects and specialized work generally related to reprogramming traffic signals will also be provided as needed from sub-consultants V3 Companies and HLR.
The in-depth knowledge of the Village by key Civiltech staff, the expertise and depth of their transportation team, and their previous experience providing similar services and staffing for agencies like Chicago’s Department of Transportation will help the Village deliver exceptional customer service and implement the Village’s various transportation related plans, studies, and goals.
There is a separate agenda item at tonight’s meeting to approve a Task Order for Professional Transportation Engineering Staffing and Services for 2024 in an Amount Not to Exceed $250,000.
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact on the Master Agreement. Task orders for professional services will be issued by the Public Works Engineering for the particular project or service. Individual task orders will be presented to the Village Board for approval or approved internally by staff depending on the dollar amount per the Village’s Purchasing Policy.
DEI Impact
N/A
Alternatives
Should the Village Board not approve the Master Agreement and associated Task Order, staff will post the Civil Engineer positions. Based on the lack of response from qualified candidates the Village has previously received for these postings, staff is not confident that these positions will be filled. Additionally, transportation engineering and traffic management services to the Village will be impacted while the positions are vacant.
Previous Board Action
On March 6, 2023, the Village Board approved a Three-Year Professional Service Agreement with an Option to Renew the Agreement for up to Two Additional one-year periods with Civiltech Engineering, Inc. for Professional Engineering Services for Administering Traffic Calming Petitions and School Safety Plans in an amount not to exceed $275,000.
Citizen Advisory Commission Action
N/A
Anticipated Future Actions/Commitments
Future task orders will be presented to the Village Board for approval for professional services related to transportation engineering.
If the title and description change to the Assistant Village Engineer role are successful in attracting a candidate to the position, a future organizational chart change will be presented to the Board for approval.
Intergovernmental Cooperation Opportunities
N/A