Winnetka trustees have approved a master services agreement to use with Wisconsin-based Strand Associates, if and when the village awards that company any future project contracts.
The services agreement is the first of several that village administrators hope to put in place with companies that, like Strand, often do work for Winnetka, Water and Electric Director Brian Keys said at the council’s Feb. 21 meeting.
None of the agreements commit Winnetka to working with the companies with whom it signs them, nor do they commit any funds to a project, Keys said. Rather, they provide the general contract language that would come into play if the village decides to award projects to companies with a service agreement in place.
Having that framework should speed up the often time-consuming job of negotiating each separate contract, he said: “We spend a lot of time trying to establish wording, down to single words sometimes … in a project we did last year, we spent more time resolving the terms and conditions than we did on the professional services component of the work, and we decided there had to be a way to do this more efficiently.”
“We’re asking you to allow us to use these terms and conditions. It doesn’t absolve us of doing due diligence, or of finding more than one proposal,” Keys said.
Among the other companies that his village department and the Engineering Department often hire for projects, and with which Winnetka might want to sign a similar contract, would be Crystal Lake-based Baxter & Woodman Consulting Engineers, Keys said. He said there might be up to five firms who work often enough with Winnetka that a master services agreement could be signed with them.
“I agree (master services agreements) certainly help in the efficiency of getting projects going,” Trustee Scott Myers said. “My question is on the process of ensuring we have a competitive environment here.”
Village Manager Robert Bahan said any contractor the village chooses for a project would still have to be qualified to do the work, and would have to offer the right price for the right scope of work.
Any contract of more than $25,000 would also still have to come before the council for discussion and approval, Keys said.
“The icing on the cake is that if there’s a master services agreement, that helps with the timing” of getting a project started, Bahan said.
When Trustee Penny Lanphier asked Village Attorney Peter Friedman if there were any potential negatives to setting up master agreements, he said, “I don’t see any downside.”
More Top Picks Best Kids Keyboards
Twitter: @pioneer_kathy