Revised September 29, 2024
Between January 2020 and July 2024 Bolton & Menk billed the City of Shorewood $6,968,361[1]. That’s an average $126,697/mo. or $1,520,364 per year. The amount of money billed by Bolton & Menk for engineering services in one single year is so staggering that the city could double the number of Public Works employees to maintain roads, parks, trails, water, snow removal, tree removals and still have money to hire 3-4 full time engineers. Shorewood’s spending problem is so enormous that almost 25% of the city’s budget each year goes to Bolton & Menk!
Why did the City Council allow this to happen? You decide! Our current City Administrator wasn’t with the city for either the 1st or 2nd contract approval. Council members Zerby, Labadie, Johnson, Siakel and Sundberg approved the first contract in December 2019. Council members Labadie, Johnson, Siakel, Gorham, and Callies approved the second contract in December 2022. At the time of the contract renewal, there was no formal review of the prior three-year history of Bolton & Menk contract successes and shortcomings, between administration and city council. After spending $4,532,340 in the first three years for engineering services, why would the City Council approve another egregious contract with few controls and substantial differences in hourly rates listed below?
Bolton & Menk provides one on-site project manager/engineer who has offices at the city. His proximity gives him access to any and all data within the city to look for new projects and promote ideas to the administration. Being on-site also provides a crutch for other departments like Public Works, Parks and Planning to hand-off work without sourcing alternate means. It appears that Bolton & Menk has every incentive to accept and create new projects because they make money every minute they are reviewing, researching, presenting ideas and developing plans for new projects–many of which don’t have a clear mandate from the administration or council. This gives the appearance of an open checkbook at taxpayer expense. The city’s bonding debt has exploded from $5 million in 2020 to more than $27 million today.
What’s eye opening is Bolton & Menk also benefits for incomplete or inaccurate work and carries no liability for failure to perform. This indefensible re-work seems to be the result of inexperience, poor planning & communication, lack of community input, and a lack of inspections, both during and after project completion. Simply put, Bolton & Menk can bill more for doing a bad job and it has cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.
Bolton & Menk Project Mishaps:
- Manor Road mill and overlay project never surveyed borders. On April 22, 2024 City Council learned that the Manor Road mill and overlay project completed in 2021 was 150 feet short of the Deephaven border. Now, without any challenge from the council, Shorewood is paying Deephaven $21k to reconstruct 150 feet of roadway, plus Bolton & Menk is able to bill for meeting time and engineering time and materials. Bolton & Menk was paid the full amount of the original contract and is now being paid again to work with the City of Deephaven for their failed work. The Bolton and Menk engineer admitted that the boundary was determined simply by the placement of the “City of Shorewood” road sign, without further confirmation.
- Eureka Road North: On March 25th of this year residents of Eureka Road North saved taxpayers $1.3 million by petitioning the city and its engineering firm to prevent over-engineering their road after seeing what happened with Birch Bluff. After a 15 month long process that started with Bolton & Menk presenting city administrators with an elaborately engineered road reconstruction plan, residents petitioned the city to scale back unnecessary construction and spending. After nine months, Bolton & Menk held its first public meeting with residents, and after 15 months, residents’ good judgment prevailed. Bolton & Menk should have gathered resident input at the start of the project. By doing so, it would have saved the city hundreds of billable hours and tens of thousands of dollars in useless meetings and presentations.[2]
- Birch Bluff and Strawberry Lane road reconstruction projects were an extravagant effort to widen the road, install municipal water and drainage pipe, and add sidewalks. The cost of engineering alone was $2,100,086. Few residents have signed up for city water. There is currently a pending eminent domain issue on Strawberry Lane that the city’s attorney Campbell Knutson is trying to settle. Taxpayer money also paid to replace trees and build a boulder wall on private property.
- Shorewood Oaks: Several projects require re-work due to grading issues on trails and paths. This should have been caught on final inspection. Per Bolton and Menk Project Manager/Engineer, there was no detailed final inspection.
Taxpayers deserve fiscal responsibility, transparent planning and open communication from our elected officials and administration. In December 2022 City Council had the opportunity to change the trajectory of this extraordinary spending and hire a full-time engineer (or two). Instead they chose to sign another 3-year contract with Bolton & Menk telegraphing to taxpayers that higher spending, increased bond debt, and lack of council oversight will continue. Elections are just around the corner.
Let the Administration and city council members know you want them to rein in spending and pay down debt. If this was an eye-opening article for you please help our city leaders understand your position.
1.Best Option: attend and /or speak up at City Council meetings
2.Contact City Council Members
Dustin Maddy (612) 293-6727 dmaddy@ci.shorewood.mn.us
Jennifer Labadie (952) 836-8719 jlabadie@ci.shorewood.mn.us
Scott Zerby (952) 905-4444 szerby@ci.shorewood.mn.us
Guy Sanschagrin (952) 217-1289 gsanschagrin@ci.shorewood.mn.us
Paula Callies (763) 546-8020 pcallies@ci.shorewood.mn.us
3.Contact City Administration
Marc Nevinski (952) 960-7905 mnevinski@ci.shorewood.mn.us
