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City pays contractor that quit sewer project
(by Joseph Koziol Jr. - October 29, 2008)
City pays contractor that quit sewer project
By JOSEPH KOZIOL JR.
Chardon City Council agreed last week to cut its losses with a company hired at the beginning of the year to handle a sanitary sewer project on Wilson Mills Road.
Council voted unanimously to pay $120,000 to end dealings with Northeast Ohio Trenching Service Inc., of Warrensville Heights, which contracted in January for the installation of sewers.
The company, which began work in late March, withdrew from the work site after about two weeks on the job, citing insufficient plans provided by the city.
"The plans, specs and bore logs all indicated that this project was above the rock, and there is no information in the contract documents to advise NEOTS that rock would interfere with the drilling process," company President George Gorup wrote in an April 15 letter to the city. "We have had nothing but problems with rocks."
Chardon Law Director James Gillette said the city faced two options with the company after reaching an impasse in negotiations to return to work. They were to terminate the contract or order the bonding company to proceed with it. But if the bonding company had been called on to finish the work, the city still would have been dealing with the company's claims for payment, he said.
Mr. Gillette told council that continuing its fight with the company would not be to the city's ultimate benefit. "If we continue, it will be nothing but trouble and added expense," he said.
He said the city would essentially be "starting from scratch" with the contract termination.
Now, it has the option of hiring the company with the second lowest bid for the work or rebidding the job.
Northeast Ohio Trenching was the lowest of two bidders for the work at $287,210. The only other bid was approximately $170,000.
Mr. Gillette said the city agreed to the $120,000 payment for work already done, although it was higher that the city engineer's estimate of $50,000. He said the final payment was arrived at after city officials negotiated the company down from a "significantly" higher demand.
Differences in cost have plagued the project. In June, the company was disputing a quote of $178.50 per linear foot by the city for excavating. Company project manager Sheldon Price said the company's cost was closer to $313 per linear foot.
In addition, the city offered $28,605 for change orders to the project, while the company said its costs were $340,000.
Mr. Gillette said the termination agreement ends all potential claims that could be made by either side.
Councilwoman Deborah Reiter said it was in the best interest of the residents to end the city's relationship with Northeast Ohio Trenching.
The question of how residents living along Wilson Mills Road will be assessed for the project still is to be determined.
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