With just a month until the start of Winslow Way reconstruction, the city is beginning negotiations with a new company to take on the construction management services for the project.

Heery International started working on the project four years ago, but it will not continue.

The news concerned many in the community who have watched the project unfold over the years. Interim City Manager Brenda Bauer assured both the council and the community at Wednesday’s council meeting that the move will allow the city to work with the best talent and skill available to execute the undertaking.

“Heery didn’t leave us, we left Heery,” said Bauer. “The project manager [Heery] had available didn’t meet our needs and this project is so important that we need the best people possible.”

The city is entering into negotiations with the consulting firm Skilling Connelly, the next highest ranked company in the city’s publicly advertised request for qualification process.

The council will review and authorize the contract at the March 2 study session. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-March.

Several factors triggered the move to a new construction management company, Bauer said. The Heery project manager who was initially working with the city is no longer available since the project has taken so long to come to fruition.

The city tried unsuccessfully to find another team within Heery, but was unable to find anyone with the appropriate skill set to take over.

The city was not made aware of the vacancy until the last few weeks, Bauer added.

In looking for other options, the city found that Skillings Connelly had a qualified team ready to jump on board.

Several of the councilors expressed their concern over Heery leaving at such a late point in the process.

Councilor Bill Knobloch has been on the council during the entire Winslow Way project, including when it was a $22 million renovation called “Winslow Tomorrow.”

The project has since been whittled down to its current form of a utility and streetscape reconstruction. Knobloch voiced concerns echoed by some community members who wondered what the city got out of Heery for the $2.3 million paid for its services.

“A lot of what was spent is no longer useful because it was a dream that did not move forward. And that’s not Heery’s fault,” said Bauer. “Most went to various design funding, many of which are designs that aren’t going to be in this project. But we’ve already spent that money.”

Bauer said that Heery was the umbrella organization over a number of consultants who worked for the city. Heery was never paid in advance for project management costs, Bauer said.

Mayor Kirsten Hytopoulos said it’s important the council acknowledge that some of the money spent was a waste.

“At end of day we have to acknowledge it should never have cost that much for the nothing that happened,” said Hytopoulos. “We have to acknowledge that waste or we will have no chance at credibility with the community.”

Winslow Way project manager Chris Wierzbicki said Lacey-based Skilling Connelly has experience working with federally funded transportation projects similar to Winslow Way. The Washington Department of Transportation requires specific oversight over the project’s federal funding.

“I think we got value from Heery and we’ve come to a milestone point,” said Wierzbicki. “Their input was valuable and now we are moving onto the next phase and hopefully we will get value from the next person.”