It’s a process that happens over and over again in Charlottesville and other localities. A big project is proposed, but before any money is spent on construction, the city hires a consulting firm, often to the tune of six or seven figures. Projects like the Belmont Bridge, the West Main Streetscape, and Cville Plans Together have already cost the city millions, even though work has been delayed and may never even begin. Are these outsiders worth the big bucks?
“Consultants often have specialized knowledge, skills, or resources that allow them to take care of work that might be daunting to locality planners whose knowledge is necessarily more broad and generalized,” says Mike MacKenzie, the director of the Land Use Education Program at Virginia Commonwealth University.
After several years of turnover at the highest levels of government, even Charlottesville’s top official is currently a consultant paid through a firm the city hired.
Last December, the city issued a request for proposals for a firm to provide the service of city manager after a candidate hired in November turned down the job. The Robert Bobb Group of Washington, D.C., got the nod, and council selected Michael C. Rogers from a list of candidates. The initial six-month term carried a price tag of $155,000, and the firm just got a six-month contract extension for Rogers at the same price.
There’s no line item in the budget that lists all of the consultants working at any given time. In fact, the word “consultant” only appears once in the entire Charlottesville budget for FY23. Yet the work of various firms has played a significant role in city government long after their contracts are over.
In the past 10 years, Charlottesville has spent millions on firms to produce plans to guide city decisions. The Toole Design Group was hired in 2014 to develop a “multimodal plan for the City of Charlottesville” called Streets That Work for an initial payment of $50,000. At the time, at least one city councilor felt existing planning staff were not up to the task.
That summer, Toole got an additional $85,000 to update the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. In August 2017, it was hired again on a $199,987 contract to update a Standards and Design Manual. These three documents are frequently used by planning staff as it reviews plans.
In 2016, The Novak Consulting Group was paid $101,250 to study how Charlottesville government worked, followed by an additional $42,200 for a review of the city’s planning department. Many of these recommendations were not implemented, in part because of turmoil that began in the summer of 2017.
Other projects crafted by consultants have also not come to fruition. Earlier this month, council put the West Main Streetscape design overseen by Rhodeside & Harwell back on the shelf after agreeing to reprioritze capital spending for school renovation.
School systems hire consultants to do work, too. The Charlottesville School Board hired VMDO Architects for $1.47 million in April 2021 to develop the plans to renovate and expand Buford Middle School.
Consultants aren’t always hired to plan for infrastructure projects. Governments also hire consultants to get a fresh look on long-term planning, and last week, the city hired Venable LLP to help write a collective bargaining ordinance.
The practice continues under the current council. Vice-Mayor Juandiego Wade says hiring outside parties can help with staff shortages.
“I think the work could be very good if the consultants are appropriately chosen,” he says.
Councilor Sena Magill says she would prefer that more work be conducted in-house, but sometimes groups will have the right kind of expertise required.
“I have worked with some consultants who I feel really brought a lot to the table, and I have worked with some I felt really did not listen to what our community was asking for,” Magill says.
Active bids at the moment include an engineering firm to craft a plan for city buildings to become compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and a company to lead an executive search for the city’s next police chief.
A bit of advice
Kimley-Horn This Richmond-based firm was hired by the city in November 2016 for nearly $2 million to finalize a Belmont Bridge design built on the work of the previous consultant. Construction is now underway. This firm was also hired by the city to oversee the East High Streetscape, one of several Smart Scale transportation projects that have not yet gone to construction.
Rhodeside & Harwell RHI got the $340,000 contract for a design study of West Main Street approved by City Council in 2013. By October 2018, the firm had been paid $1.8 million to oversee technical drawings for a street improvement project whose cost estimates climbed as high as $55 million and which was recently sidelined. RHI was hired again in 2020 for nearly $1 million to oversee creation of an affordable housing plan, finish the Comprehensive Plan, and rewrite the city’s zoning code. Council has been authorized at least $165,000 more for additional studies to complete the work. As of the end of April, the city has paid out $766,316.78.
Timmons Group The Timmons Group is overseeing design work for two Smart Scale projects (Emmet Street Streetscape and Barracks Emmet Improvements), but is working closely with the city to develop new software for the city to track land-use applications such as rezonings and site plans. The firm will get more than $900K over five years to replace software from 2008. Such software has been recommended by previous consultants.
New Hill Development In late 2018, council directed $500,000 to the New Hill Development Company to create a master plan for the Starr Hill neighborhood, but the final work product ended up being converted to a vision plan.
