Milwaukee firm hired to complete study
By Bert Lehman
Clintonville’s city-owned facilities will receive a professional condition assessment in the near future.
At its Nov. 12 meeting, the Clintonville City Council approved hiring Barrientos Design and Consulting, based out of Milwaukee, to conduct a facilities condition assessment for up to $32,000.
Clintonville City Administrator Sharon Eveland explained in a staff report why she recommended hiring Barrientos Design and Consulting.
Eveland stated that over the last year, several members of the council and other city staff spoke to her about the condition of the city’s facilities.
In August, Eveland issued a request for proposals for a facilities condition assessment to outside firms. Any firm that submitted a proposal was required to attend a walk-through of the city’s facilities on Sept. 12. Proposals were due Sept. 26.
Eveland said six firms submitted proposals, of which the city accepted five. One proposal was rejected because the company did not attend the mandatory walk-through.
Only two proposals were accepted for reference checks because the cost for each of the other three proposals was at least double what the city had budgeted for the project.
The proposal Barrientos Design and Consulting submitted was for $27,145. This was roughly $3,000 more than the proposal from the other firm the city performed reference checks on, Madison-based McKinstry Essention LLC.
Eveland stated in the staff report that both companies provided “quality proposals but Barrientos’ proposal seemed to more specifically address the city’s goals for the project.”
Although Barrientos Design and Consulting did not submit the lowest priced proposal, Eveland recommended the city hire that firm.
“McKinstry has proposed to do the entire project with in-house staff while Barrientos will outsource engineering to Harwood Engineering, which has significant experience in assessing building systems and structures,” Eveland stated in the staff report.
“McKinstry has a unique focus on energy assessments but almost all of its experience has been with school districts while all of the previous projects listed by Barrientos were for municipalities or county governments and had a heavy emphasis on public works facilities. In addition, most of the projects listed by McKinstry were outside Wisconsin as it has locations in other states as well.
“It is believed that both consultants would produce an excellent product but the recommendation to go with Barrientos is heavily influenced by the extensive experience with municipalities in Wisconsin and with public works related facilities which seem to be one of the top concerns for the council.”
The staff report states the city’s 2019-2023 capital improvement projects budget includes $35,000 for a facilities condition assessment.
Because the proposal from Barrientos Design and Consulting cost less than that, Eveland stated the project could potentially be expanded to include a limited space needs assessment.