Despite criticism, town not likely to change Rail Trail firm choice

AMENIA —  The Amenia Town Board is not likely to revisit its decision in choosing a design firm for the town’s Harlem Valley Rail Trail extension project, despite the Trail to Train Committee’s contradicting recommendation and a committee member speaking out against the decision at the Jan. 5 organizational meeting.

The design and engineering firm will assist with the planning and construction of a little more than a half-mile extension of the Rail Trail from its current terminus at the Metro-North Wassaic train station south into the center of the hamlet of Wassaic.

A $480,000 grant from the state’s Transportation Enhancement Program (with a matching $120,000 contribution from the town) had required the board to follow a regimented process of selecting a design firm. Of 12 firms that submitted a Request for Qualifications, four were eventually selected for personal interviews.

The top two candidates were agreed upon by both the Trail to Train Committee and the Town Board: WSP Sells and a Mark Morrison-led team with Joe Berger and Barbara Kendall.

The board and committee differed with their final decisions. The committee unanimously recommended Morrison. In a letter  to the Town Board it stated that Morrison’s team, being locally based, would have “a more hands-on approach and be more available for consultationâ€� than the other firms.

The committee’s letter emphasized the locality of the group (Morrison is a Wassaic resident)  as well the volunteer work that Morrison has contributed to various aspects of the project over the past decade.

But the Town Board felt differently. At its Dec. 16 meeting, the board voted 4-1 to select WSP Sells as the top choice (an article in the Dec. 23 issue of The Millerton News incorrectly stated that Supervisor Wayne Euvrard abstained from voting). Only Councilwoman Vicki Doyle voted against WSP Sells, siding with the committee’s recommendation.

At that time, Councilwoman Darlene Riemer said the Morrison team came into the interviews with the local advantage, but she didn’t feel there was the needed “synergy� among the three principals.

“WSP Sells was the first interview we did, and they really set the bar,� she added. “They were flexible and I was impressed by them.�

At the board’s Jan. 5 meeting, committee member Sharon Kroeger read from a prepared statement during closing public comments.

In that statement, she criticized the board for not discussing its decision with the committee first, but most significantly charged that the board did not understand the financial implications of its decision. Kroeger said that the Morrison team best understood the need to keep the project within the $600,000 cap of the total grant.

There was no discussion of the board’s decision after Kroeger read her comments, but in follow-up interviews with several Town Board members it seemed unlikely that the board would revisit its decision.

“I spoke with a few board members,� Euvrard said. “We made the decision already, and we made the right decision.�

Even Doyle, who said she would definitely support the board’s revisiting the issue, said that she hadn’t heard anything from the board that would indicate the possibility for further discussion.

“The quality of work is not the issue� between the two firms, she said. “I’m concerned with our ability to do the project within the resources we have budgeted.�

Euvrard pointed out that legally the board is not allowed to choose a firm based on the projected total cost of the project and is not allowed to ask the firm.

“But everyone knows up front how much the grant is for and that we’re on a tight budget,� he added.

Euvrard said the committee did a wonderful job, but said he believed that the members had already made up their mind to go with the Morrison before the interviews, given the firm’s prior history with the project. He did acknowledge the work contributed by Morrison in the past, but said there were other issues to look at as well.

“Everybody’s a volunteer here in town,� he said. “You have to look at the professionalism.�

As far as a timeline for actual construction of the extension, Euvrard said all of the firms interviewed gave roughly the same estimations, that it would take about a year for design, with construction starting in spring 2012.