(Tribune News Service) — After more than three years of discussion and government red tape, officials in Center Line and the U.S. Army Garrison Detroit Tank Arsenal have come to an agreement that will result in the city and its contractors providing services to the military installation.

The city will provide architectural and engineering services along with solid waste and recycling management services to the arsenal.

The provision of architectural and engineering services is provided by Center Line’s current contractor, Anderson, Eckstein and Westrick (AEW), and is essentially an extension of services currently provided to the city.

“Those very same services AEW provides to the city are now being provided to the garrison at a cost savings to the U.S. Army,” said Center Line City Manager Dennis Champine.

Under the current intergovernmental support agreements, Center Line’s contractor and city management administers each of the individual project services at an agreed hourly rate for each architectural and engineering skill set and a 10% city administrative fee.

According to Champine, the city and arsenal currently have six intergovernmental support agreement projects using AEW with administrative fee revenues of more than $150,000 earned by the city. In the end, this agreement has resulted in an overall cost savings for the U.S. Army of $898,000 to date.

Current engineering projects include roof repairs, a fire bay expansion, emergency evacuation signage, an emergency backup system along with an area development plan, in partnership with the city planner, Carlisle, Wortman and Associates.

“This partnership is a great example of how the U.S. government and local governments can benefit from working together in providing the very best services at an affordable cost,” said Center Line Mayor Robert Binson.

A second agreement between the two entities was approved this past summer for the provision of solid waste and recycling management. Under this deal, the city’s and arsenal’s current sanitation contractor, GFL Environmental USA; the aresenal’s recycling contractor, Unlimited Recycling; and the arsenal’s shredding contractor, AJP Commercial Shredding, which were working directly with the federal facility prior to the current agreement, were maintained by Center Line to continue the provision of those specific services.

Each of the rehired contractors received significant increases in fees, while the U.S. Army experienced an overall cost savings of $135,000 in fiscal year 2023. Center Line earns an estimated $48,000 in administrative fees for managing the service.

“These results clearly show the benefit of a public-public partnership under the IGSA program, where a local municipality’s buying power can significantly help our management team and the U.S. Army save hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s monies and bring some of that savings back to local vendors and communities like Center Line”, said Carrie Meade, U.S. Army Garrison Detroit Tank Arsenal manager.

(c)2024 The Macomb Daily, Mount Clemens, Mich.

Visit https://www.macombdaily.com/

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.