Blind River council is renewing its contract for engineering services with Tulloch Engineering and extending it to three years.
The issue was brought to council at its regular meeting Monday evening with a recommendation from CEO and clerk Katie Scott for the renewal and extension. The current contract with the firm expires at the end of this year.
Councillor Jim Dunbar said he had no concerns with the contract renewal or extending it by one year from the previous two-year contract. The councillor said he only had a question about whether the company and previous engineering firms have looked after the town’s interests during large projects that have been completed.
“I can say that our engineering experience with our previous engineering and Tulloch Engineering has been a good experience and they’ve always looked after the vast interests of the municipality,” Scott responded. “That being said, senior (town) management has also always worked hand-in-hand with the engineer to ensure the right questions are always being asked when we’re always working on projects. Our projects have always been coming in on time and on schedule and on budget for the most part, so we’ve been very happy with Tulloch Engineering.”
“The recommendation comes today because a lot of our projects are part way finished or not even at the halfway point at this stage of the game, so changing engineers at this time would be costly for the municipality having to bring new engineers up to speed on all the projects we have on the go right now,” Scott added.
Council approved the motion for the contract extension that will see a 1.85 per cent cost of living increase across the next three years.
The contract costs will be dealt with in the town’s 2021 budget.