A request to waive competitive bidding requirements and award an estimated $384,000 contract to upgrade one of eight well houses in Lake in the Hills will be up for a vote Thursday.

Consensus was reached during Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting to move forward with a contract from Concentric Integration to perform work on Well 14 at 842 McPhee Drive, which produces more water than most of the other facilities.

In the past 20 years, Lake in the Hills had undergone an aggressive water main replacement project to upgrade failing infrastructure within the original section of the village.

Although the project was successful in reducing the number of water main breaks and improving fire protection, the village’s eight water production facilities went without upgrades during that time.

“We became reactive and not proactive in our water treatment,” Lake in the Hills water superintendent Ryan McDillon said.

Well 14 was identified as the facility most in need of electrical and mechanical upgrades. Village President Russ Ruzanski said Well 14 is the largest water pumper on the east side of town and needs a fair amount of work.

Trustee Bob Huckins asked how the village knows it’s getting the best deal if it didn’t look outside a subsidiary of the village’s water resources consultant, Baxter and Woodman. Although McDillon said no other companies were consulted, Huckins said he trusted the advice of the public works department.

By using a design/build method, where Concentric would be the single point of contact for designing and offering construction services for the project, village staff said the project would move faster than bidding, procuring and managing multiple projects.

During fiscal 2018 planning, the Village Board approved $385,000 for the project.

Officials will vote on the contract and the collective bidding waiver during their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at Village Hall, 600 Harvest Gate.