After Council approved “placeholder contracts” of $475 each for four engineering firms on January 20 (WW-P News, February 3) a fifth was added on February 13 as a professional services agreement with the Alaimo Group for $475 was approved by council.
“This was the one firm of the five that we use that was not ready for the last meeting. They did not have the paperwork in at the time,” Business Administrator Robert Hary said.
Alaimo, which has offices in Mt. Holly, Waretown, and Paterson, works mainly with the West Windsor Zoning Board. Alaimo Associate Jim Ruddiman testified at the board’s recent hearings in December and January.
Councilman Bryan Maher had concerns about multiple firms contracted with the township. At the council meeting February 13 he said Township Engineer Francis Guzik and Hary assured him that only five engineering firms do business with the township on a yearly basis.
“I was assured that any project below $8,500 in the normal course of business is what West Windsor would contract with these companies for. My concern was that we had quite a few non-bid engineering contracts out there and they could run up any bills that they wanted to at the end of the year,” Maher said.
Maher said based on public concerns, which he shared, he wanted to clarify that the township would bid out major engineering contracts. Hary explained that with projects of over $8,500 the township tries to get formal prices from at least three vendors in lieu of formal bids because that process takes too long.
Hary said other than the five firms with annual placeholder agreements the township works with two more firms in its bidding processes. Council President Kamal Khanna said the goal was to have firms bid against each other to see who can offer West Windsor the lowest price.
