No action taken on choosing comprehensive plan firm

The Pulaski County Commissioners decided to take no action on selecting a comprehensive plan consultant  firm based off of new information presented at the August 11 county council/commissioners joint session. Community Development Commission (CDC) Executive Director Nathan Origer advised that the interview committee has recently conducted interviews with HWC Engineering and Kimley-Horn. Origer said that HWC Engineering scored more favorably across the board compared to Kimley-Horn. It is the recommendation of the interview committee to go with HWC Engineering to develop the plan. However, he said the commissioners will to make a decision based off of new information that came in last minute. Origer advised that HWC Engineering sent him an email at around 5 p.m. that day [Monday, Aug. 11] outlining some options for how they approach this with cost – with upgraded versions for additional cost if they think those are worth exploring. He said that they could just say no, however, "as the resolution was passed by the commissioners to proceed with this project, based on the maximum grant award and the minimum local match, they are looking at a $60,000 budget." Their base proposal exceeds that $60,000 budget by about $20,000. He said the commissioners have a few options. They could either say they would like to hire HWC but the company will have to make the $60,000 work; they could decide they are willing to go a little bit above that because they think it's worth it; or they can review and revise their scores taking this into consideration and see if they would rather go with Kimley-Horn, despite not having very much time to make that decision.