BY ANNE CHECKOSKY
The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council voted Tuesday to wait until their July 16 meeting to make decisions on whether to hire a town engineer, traffic engineer and surveyor.
“We have two of the three contracts ready, but it’s not a major problem to wait until July 16,” Town Manager Mark Kutney said.
Town staff had prepared reports, including fee schedules, regarding the engineering firm Keshavarz & Associates based in West Palm Beach and Simmons & White, a traffic engineering firm also based in West Palm Beach, which they plan to recommend the council hire.
The staff did not have a report prepared on the recommended surveying firm.
“To move forward, we need to go on faith on some things,” Councilman Jim Rockett said.
But Mayor Dave Browning said he needed more time to look over staff recommendations on all three firms. “I’d like to have a continuance,” he said.
Councilman Ryan Liang agreed. “Let’s just put it off rather than trying to have a 20-minute discussion now,” he said.
Kutney said that rate-wise, the engineering and traffic firms were in line.
Two projects he would like the firms to get started on are dealing with the traffic signal at D Road and Okeechobee Blvd. and reviewing the new flood maps proposed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Kutney said.
According to staff reports, Keshavarz & Associates can provide general town engineering services such as consultation and civil engineering design, environmental engineering services and civil engineering inspection services.
Simmons & White can provide arterial analysis, traffic signal design and review, and prepare traffic studies, among other duties.
Both firms would be retained on a monthly basis, and the terms of the agreements would run for three consecutive years. The agreements could be terminated after 90 days by either party.
The motion to table discussion to July 16 was unanimous.
