South Fayette officials have tapped a Latrobe-based firm to provide engineering services.

Commissioners voted 4-0 Wednesday to hire Gibson-Thomas Engineering. Commissioner Joe Horowitz was absent.

Township Communications Director Andrea Iglar said they received 13 engineering proposals and five companies were interviewed for the position.

Gibson-Thomas’ cost is estimated at $120 per hour depending on the professional working and which project they’re working on. There is no monthly retainer.

South Fayette budgeted about $439,000 for engineering services this year, which is about a $49,000 increase from last year’s budget.

Township Manager John Barrett said the projected increased spending was due to various residential projects and other developments expected to move forward in the coming months.

“I think we’re going to have a busy year,” he said. “We had a real busy 2020 from a volume application standpoint.”

Andrew Blenko, P.E., served as the township’s in-house director of engineering and planning for about a year before leaving in September. Commissioners approved a separation agreement that month. Officials have since declined to discuss Blenko’s departure and compensation.

“The township decided to go in a different direction meeting all of our needs under one roof,” said Gwen Rodi, commissioners president. “We thought a firm would be able to do that than having an in-house engineer.”

Barrett said even though the township had its own engineer, it would often outsource some professional services to an outside firm much like other municipalities.

“The benefit of a firm would be the bench strength that they bring to the table with different types of specialists and other types of employees,” Barrett said. “It’s challenging to find engineers that have enough skillsets to fill that role.”

Rodi said Gibson-Thomas’ portfolio of services helped it standout from the other candidates.

“They can do everything all together and be familiar with an entire project instead of having to bring different groups in and get them on the same page,” Rodi said. “They would meet our needs and be able to help us grow the township and move forward in a good direction.”

Don Housley of KU Resources will remain as consulting engineer and continue development of current township projects. It is unclear when his services would no longer be required.

Former code enforcement officer Gary Hartz remains the township’s planning director and zoning officer.

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