How this for a scenario I've just seen. Consultant X consults for
municipality A. Consultant Y consults for municipality B. Consultant X is
just about to get final approval on a project in municipality B. Just one
more approval and it's done. Consultant Y submits a project to municipality
A. Being the first round there is a long list of comments from Consultant X.
Suddenly Consultant X receives a huge list of revisions for his project in
municipality B. What is going on here?
Municipalities believe they SAVE money by using consultants to do the work
that used to be done by a Town or City or County Engineer. They don't have
an Engineer on the payroll so they are "Saving Money". But if you look at
the total spent on consulting serviced. One you factor in Reviews, Meetings,
Consultations on Municipal projects, field inspection fees. You'll probably
find they could have quite a decent Engineering department. And those
Engineers could always work for the municipality.
Another good one. Company Alpha is the Engineering Consultant for the Town
of Bumstead. Company Alpha also has a big private project in the Town of
Bumstead. You ask if this isn't a conflict of interests. Company Alpha says
there is no conflict of interest because Mr. Joe Engineer P.E. is the
engineer in charge of that project and he NEVER does any of the municipal
work. And the Town backs them up.
And another!! Mr. T. Cons is introduced as the Town Engineer at all the Town
of Bumstead planning board meetings. He is rude and always has very
derogatory thing to say about many the engineers presentations and plans at
the meetings. One engineer takes exception to his conduct and does some
research. He finds that Mr. T. Cons. is NOT a licensed Engineer in ANY
state. He is an partner in the consulting firm but holds no professional
license. A complaint is made to the state on the ground that he is
practicing engineering without a license. His defense it that he is not
practicing engineering at all. He is only expressing the view of his company
at these meetings. Although he was obviously making engineering decisions at
the meetings and that it would have been illegal for anyone not licensed to
represent the applicant at these meeting. The state finds that there is no
evidence that this person was practicing engineering without a license.
Have fun
Allen
"doug k" wrote in message
news:5137308@discussion.autodesk.com...
As I've mentioned in a thread elsewhere, some of the townships around here
have a contract with one of our *competitors* to review documents.
The conflict of interest is HUGE, yet we still manage to get things approved
occasionally. Usually takes several rounds until things look the way the
reviewers want. There is no arguing with a competitor that is reviewing
your work. And then when you finally get used to how to prepare documents
for that township, they'll contract with a different competitor that
underbid the last one. As you might imagine, lawyers specializing in zoning
and code enforcement/interpretation do very well around here.
On the plus-side, good engineers/designers/drafters start to get a
reputation around here as more and more firms see your work. Job security.
;-)
"Don Reichle" wrote in message
news:5136841@discussion.autodesk.com...
They all have their own standard symbols, and when you have a project within
their sphere of influence they each expect that your firm will use their
symbols.
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