Mirror Reporter
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City rejects contractor’s bill for change order in fire station construction
Wednesday, 28 September 2011 11:17
The Clear Lake City Council has directed City Administrator Scott Flory to meet with representatives of SEH, Inc. to negotiate the amount the city is willing to pay for a change order the architectural firm made on the city’s new fire station without Council approval.
Stan Owens, lead technician, architectural services for SEH, told the Council at a recent workshop that during the excavation at the rear of the building substandard materials were discovered in the subsoil.
The discovery occurred on a Friday, and with rain in the forecast through the weekend and into the following week, the contractor ordered materials amounting to nearly $27,000 so that a tank could be installed before conditions deteriorated any further. Owens said the cost was later reduced to $20,781.
Council members did not agree with Owens’ explanation of weather and the timetable it would have taken to execute a change order as a reason for the work to have progressed without the city’s approval of the additional cost.
Council Representative Terry Unsworth said minutes of a pre-construction meeting noted the high water table at the project site.
“There could not have been a surprise factor. They had to know based on your own report,” said Unsworth. “They were only a phone call away from you and they didn’t call.” Unsworth went on to say unforeseen soil and - Read More Via e-Edition