Updated: This story has been updated to clarify the scope of work Engineering Plus will be doing on the North Hills Street paving project.

Meridian councilman Dwayne Davis on Tuesday questioned a $120,000 agreement with Engineering Plus for construction design work as the city prepares to pave North Hills Street.

During the city council meeting, Davis asked Public Works Director David Hodge why it is necessary to hire more engineers to do the design work when Hodge himself is an engineer.

Although the capability to do the work is there, Hodge said there are several reasons why bringing on an outside engineer is a good idea. The first, he said, is that North Hills Street is a highly traveled road.

Where Engineering Plus can respond quickly to unforeseen issues and work out solutions, Hodge said his responsibilities as public works director don’t allow for that type of flexibility. If the city were to handle the work in house, he said, it would be a lot slower and be a greater disruption to Meridian residents.

Another reason, Hodge said, is that he simply doesn’t have the time. Public works is one of the city’s largest departments encompassing street maintenance, supplying clean, safe water to Meridian residents, managing the city’s sewer system and wastewater treatment plants, the city’s maintenance department and garage and maintaining Bonita Lakes, among other duties.

“I have to delegate so I can do my job appropriately,” he said.

Although the council order said design, Hodge said Engineering Plus’ on-the-ground work will actually be construction engineering and inspection. The engineering firm will be testing asphalt mixtures at the plant, making sure the new pavement is being compacted properly and troubleshooting issues that come up.

Design, Hodge said, would be calculating the amount of storm runoff and angle of a slope to decide how big a particular culvert would need to be. Then the site would be surveyed, construction documents drawn up and the project put out to bid.

The $120,000, Hodge said, is a not-to-exceed amount, and it is unlikely the true costs will be anywhere near as expensive.

The paving project is being funded through a $3.4 million appropriation from the state Legislature and is expected to cover asphalt and minor drainage and road corrections from Highway 19 to Highway 39. Paving work on the road is expected to begin in the next few months.

Davis also raised concerns about a bid for road striping in Tuesday’s meeting. The city had previously put out for bids for striping on a collection of roads paved in the past two years.

Lane Line LLC came in as the lowest of two bids at a cost of $327,145.58. The Flowood-based company is not a normal bidder for Meridian projects, and Davis questioned whether their participation presented a conflict of interest for Hodge, who previously interacted with the company as public works director in Madison.

City Attorney Will Simmons said he did not see any conflict as Hodge was not an investor or partner in the company, had no financial ties to the company and didn’t stand to gain or lose from the bid being accepted or not.

As long as the public bid process was followed, knowing a contractor or company isn’t a conflict, Simmons said.

“After 30 years, you know a lot of people in the industry,” Hodge said.

On a different note, Simmons said, having companies that don’t normally compete for the city’s business submit bids is a good thing. The bid process is designed to make companies compete against each other for the city’s business and drives down the price. The more companies involved, he said, the better the price.

In this case, Simmons said, Lane Line LLC came in about $90,000 under its competitor’s price.

Council members on Tuesday also awarded bids for two slope stabilization projects. H.E. Mosley Inc. was awarded a slope stabilization project on 32nd Avenue at a cost of $251,556, and Diversified Construction LLC was awarded a similar project on 10th Avenue for a cost of $69,290.