The City of Meridian will use LPK Architects to develop its master plan for downtown, bucking a state-recommended practice of open bidding in order to secure the known quality of a local firm.

In a 3-2 vote, the council authorized the $93,500 agreement with the Meridian-based firm at a meeting Tuesday night.  

Council member Dustin Markham, who represents Ward 2, voted against the agreement, citing the need for competitive bidding.

“Competition makes for a better product for the citizens. If you only have one option there’s no pressure to be competitive,” Markham said. “I want to be fair.”

Markham, an attorney, referenced the 1972 Mississippi Code and two opinions from the state attorney general’s office that encourage municipalities to open up bidding.

Master planning falls under a professional services clause of the bidding requirements, as outlined in the 1972 Mississippi Code 31-7-13. Normally, purchases more than $50,000 must advertise for competitive bids but allows professional services to bypass that requirement.

Professional services can range from securing third-party security to funding expert opinions or contractors.

In past opinions, however, the state attorney general’s office has said professional services should be opened up for competitive bidding, even though it has no legal obligation to do so.

“The mandates of public policy require that the public receives the best possible service at the lowest available price. Accordingly, we strongly encourage solicitation for competitive bids even when such is not required,” according to the ‘Bowman’ opinion of 1999.

“We recommend that public entities solicit bids or proposals in order to ensure that the public entity is receiving the best value and not exercising improper favoritism,” according to the 2010 ‘Phillips’ opinion.

“I’m not saying it shows favoritism,” said Markham, who sent out the list of all 110 Mississippian American Institute of Architect-certified architects to council members. “But you at least need to look at (other architects). Even if you end up picking Bob Luke (of LPK Architects).”

Additionally, Markham expressed a concern over the contract. Under the contract, LPK Architects could potentially charge more for “other similar project-related expenditures” and “reimbursable expenses.”

“It could potentially push it into six figures,” Markham said, adding that the project should have been done previously. “I’m not against LPK (Architects). I’m not against a master plan… But, in my opinion, time is not of the essence to the extent that we need to bypass fairness and bypass competitive bidding. We can get a better value for our citizens.”

Council president Kim Houston voted for the agreement, citing the need for someone familiar with downtown to work on the project.

“They’re already in ‘downtown,'” Houston said. “I just felt like the best thing to do was to go with who we know and who we trust and move forward.”

LPK Architects’ downtown clients include the upcoming Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, the MSU-Meridian Riley Foundation campus, both downtown, and several private clients.

Houston said having someone available locally impacted her vote, allowing the council to hold LPK Architects accountable and ask for consistent updates.

“They don’t have to fly in and we can go down to their office. We can call them and say, ‘Hey, we need you to come down to the council meeting and update,” Houston said. “Being able to have someone that is touchable is important to me.”

Since beginning to collect the resident-approved tax to build the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience, Houston said the council was ready to move forward on creating a master plan.

“(The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Experience) is a done deal. This is a reality, it’s coming to Meridian,” Houston said. “We need to get our downtown in a position to be able to house and make it easier for people to get around.”

Houston mentioned the Lauderdale County’s difficulties with its contractor regarding the courthouse.

“They went with somebody from out-of-town and they went with the lowest bid and there seems to be a lot of controversy because (the contractor hasn’t) done what they said they were going to do,” Houston said.

“I think we’ll be in a much better position than our friends in the county who now have a big headache. They’re very frustrated with the fact that something was supposed to be given to them in October and we’re getting ready to go into January and they still don’t have anything.”

Principal architect Bob Luke, with LPK Architects, said the firm has already designed master plans for community colleges and municipalities.  

“We are very fortunate to have an intimate knowledge and understanding of (the downtown) projects and their effect on the community,” Luke said.

Luke said that his research, as well as meetings with downtown businesses, will take place over the next 60 to 90 days, ending with a product in the spring that will act as a “road map” for the project.

“The project itself isn’t really just about the project, it’s about the process or the goal setting,” Luke said. “That may take years to achieve the outcomes of the actual project.”

Master plans look at the city’s existing conditions and infrastructure, such as utilities, traffic flow (both vehicular and pedestrian), architectural standards, wayfinding and land use. Additionally, LPK Architects will hear from the various stakeholders downtown as the plan takes shape.  

Luke said some of the key elements will be downtown parking, traffic flow and creating an attractive entryway from the interstate.

“We got to think of how we get off the interstate and into downtown Meridian,” Luke said. “I think it’s a good time to try to bring this together.”