BEACON FALLS — The town has a new engineering firm as well as new legal counsel.
The town has contracted with Milone & MacBroom, a civil engineering and landscape architecture firm based in Cheshire, for engineering services. Paul DeStefano, lead project engineer for transportation with the firm, is the town’s contact.
Milone & MacBroom will provide on-call engineering services for the town for three years, under the agreement. The firm’s fee is $175 per hour. Sometimes it may charge the town a flat rate for work on some projects.
“It does come down to hourly, but sometimes it may just be because they’re going to look at a project and they’re going to flat rate it for whatever that project might be,” First Selectman Gerard Smith said.
The town must give a 30-day written notice if it wants to cancel the agreement with Milone & MacBroom.
The town received eight bids for the job. Smith said he chose Milone & MacBroom because the firm is best suited to serve the town. He added the firm offers a broad range of services and can be a single point of contact for the town’s engineering needs.
Smith selected Stephen Studer of Berchem Moses P.C. in Milford to be the town attorney. In addition, he selected Vincent Marino of Cohen and Wolf, P.C. in Orange to be town’s land use attorney.
The town didn’t seek proposals for the legal services. The first selectman position has the authority to hire an engineering firm and legal counsel
Smith said Berchem Moses P.C. has done work for the town in the past and Cohnen and Wolf has worked for neighboring towns. Both firms were highly recommended by local municipal leaders, he said.
The agreement with the attorneys is an at-will contract, which means the town is not obligated to retain them for a set time, Smith said. Studer’s fee is $160 per hour. Marino’s fee is $175 per hour.
The town’s previous engineer was James Galligan of Nafis and Young out of Northford. Nafis. Young worked for the town for over 15 years.
Fred Stanek from Teodosio Stanek in Oxford previously served as the town attorney, a position he held for six years. Stephen Byrne from Byrne and Byrne in Farmington was the land use attorney for over 15 years.
When asked why the he decided to contract with new firms, Smith said, “Just some new, fresh professionals.”
