A familiar name will be tasked with preparing two financial cost recovery analyses in connection with a pair of substantial proposals for Spallumcheen’s Southeast sector.
Urban Systems Ltd. has been awarded two $15,000 contracts to prepare the reports after council voted unanimously on a staff recommendation to approve a variance from the township’s purchasing policy and allow the awarding of the contract without seeking multiple quotations for expenditures of more than $12,000.
Coun. Todd York was absent from the vote and Coun. Christine Fraser excused herself from all discussions on the motion as her family owns property in the Southeast sector.
“In this instance it would be appropriate to give favourable consideration to directly awarding the contract to Urban Systems and not seek other quotations or tenders,” wrote chief administrative officer Greg Betts in his report to council.
And Betts had his reasons.
Urban Systems first provided input in drafting the terms of reference and are confident their reports could be delivered within the $30,000 budget.
A direct awarding of the contract could expedite the completion of the reports and reduce the draw on limited staff time.
Urban Systems has worked extensively with the township during the past number of years and have a solid background on the Southeast sector.
“In light of the extensive information and background a firm without such knowledge would have to acquire, it is unlikely that the competitive process would achieve a lower fee or a superior product,” said Betts.
While he agreed with the recommendation, Coun. Andrew Casson expressed concern that relying solely on one group could have some disadvantages.
“At a certain point, if you rely too much on one group, their information may be very good but there might be some things we don’t know about or that have been missed,” said Casson.
Council has give first reading to the pair of official community plan amendments to the Southeast sector – one is for the North sub-area, the other is for the South sub-area.
The financial cost recovery reports must be completed in order to proceed to second reading.
