The Petersburg Borough Assembly voted Oct. 6 to award a design-build contract for the Scout Bay Generator 2 project to Dawson Construction LLC for $768,330.

The award covers design work that will take the project from a roughly 30% preliminary design to a 95% design, Utility Director Hagerman told the assembly. Hagerman said the firm proposing to do the detailed engineering is the same engineer that produced the current 30% design, which the borough view as providing continuity.

"They will take that 30% to 95%, using engineers that they hired," Hagerman said. "Once we get to that 95% design, they will take that design and go through a very detailed cost estimate on what it would take to build that design." He added the contract includes an allowance for heavy moving to position the generator, which Hagerman described as a 135,000-pound unit, and an allowance for commissioning when construction is complete.

Hagerman told the assembly that the current award is intended to produce the final design and that a contract modification to hire Dawson Construction to build the design is expected in February or March 2026. Construction was described as targeted to begin in April 2026, with final completion aimed for October 2026.

The motion to award the design-build contract passed on a roll-call vote: Member Newman, Member Lynn, Member Schwartz, Member Valentine and Vice Mayor Marsh all voted in the affirmative. No negative or abstaining votes were recorded in the meeting record.

The immediate next steps are for Dawson to complete the 95% design and for the borough and Dawson to negotiate a contract modification that will cover construction costs and schedule, Hagerman said.

Assembly members had no further questions after Hagerman’s description of the design-to-construction sequence and cost-estimating process.