Commissioners approve BCS Management statement of work for regional sewer district after negotiation plan; 2–1 vote

DeKalb County commissioners on March 2 approved a statement of work with BCS Management to begin the petition and scoping steps toward forming a regional sewer district, but they asked staff to finalize termination and buyout language in the master services agreement before signing.

BCS Management representative Anna Berghzazi told the board her firm can lead the phased process — defining service areas, conducting public hearings, preparing the IDEM petition and handling public relations — and that the work can be milestone-based so the county can stop the project if it is not feasible. “We were talking about getting started with just defining the service areas and starting the public hearings and starting the petition process and moving forward with just getting a plan in place,” Berghzazi said.

Members of the public urged caution. One resident objected to the proposed $160,000 contract and asked that the county solicit bids or at least quotes from other firms. “Why are we not getting second opinions, additional bids, or at least quotes on this project?” the resident asked. Others recommended talking to neighboring wastewater districts and developers before committing to a single consultant.

County counsel and commissioners discussed procurement options — request for qualifications (RFQ) or request for proposals (RFP) — and contract protections, including a buyout clause. Staff noted the most recent master services agreement included convenience-termination buyouts (one draft showed a 10% buyout if the county terminated early) and suggested the board could sign the statement of work while negotiating termination terms in the master services agreement.

An amended motion to accept the statement of work subject to finalizing master services agreement terms and to authorize the commission president to sign after those terms are renegotiated passed by roll call, 2–1. Commissioners did not finalize the master services agreement language at the meeting and directed counsel to circulate the current version for review.

Next steps: staff will circulate the relevant contract documents and the master services agreement to commissioners and counsel for review and negotiate termination language before executing the contract.