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City Council Committees - Public Works/Planning - 03/14/1994
C� PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE PRESENT: PAUL MANN JIM BENNETT TIM CLARK DON WICKSTROM GARY GILL MARCH 14, 1994 TIM HEYDON LAURIE EVEZICH ARTHUR MARTIN MR -& MRS DAVID TEMBY MR & MRS RUST Hardship Case (Mr & Mrs David Temby) Charge in LieLi of Assessment Wickstrom explained that we installed a watermain in Kent Kangley Road many years ago and the City financed the pr©ject and as a result, anyone connecting to that main reimburses the City for a portion of expenses we incurred; this is called Charge in Lieu of Assessment. Wickstrom said that under Resolution #975, Council can authorize a deferred payment on the Charge in Lieu of Assessment. He said that we have received a request for water service connection and the owners have indicated that this additional charge would incur a hardship on them. He said they are asking for deferred payment, which takes full Council approval. In response to Bennett, Wickstrom confirmed that this has been done in the past. Committee unanimously recommended authorization for deferred payment on the Charge in Lieu of Assessment, in accordance with Resolution #975. Watershed Fencing Project - Accept as Complete Mann expressed his appreciation that this project is now complete. Wickstrom stated that East Hill Well and Soos Creek Well were included in the fencing project, and that was the reason for the additional cost. He explained that the bid was a good one and we took advantage of it and added the last two sources on. He said that Clark Springs is not 100% fenced but everything that is accessible is fenced. Committee unanimously recommended that the project be accepted as complete. or. tia E Manganese Treatment Plant Wickstrom said there was a budget change in July of 1993 on this project because of our difficulties with the contractor. He said we had the plant up and operating; the contractor still had punchlist items to complete and in so doing, the pump facilities is not operational at the moment, which we are trying to get operational for this summer. Wickstrom said that back in November we gave the contractor an ultimatum to finish it or get off the project, and finally it got to the point where we just had to get him off the job. Wickstrom said there are potential claims and liens from the subcontractors. He said in order to be in a position where they can file a claim and it can actually be addressed, we have to accept the project as complete. He said to do that, we have to finish off about $150,000 worth of work. He said we still have $114,000 in cash unincumbered funds but our attorneys are concerned that they will need that money for litigation in resolving the issues with the subcontractors. Wickstrom said the general contractor has said he is going to file a claim; he filed one and now he has new attorneys and we haven't seen anything happening yet. Wickstrom said at this point we just want to get the facility totally operational so we can get these claims from the subcontractors resolved. ,-Bennett said, going back to last July, his position at the time was --that he felt it was too easy to take $300,000 out of an unincumbered fund to pay for something that should have been dealt with previous to that. Bennett wanted to know where we are today in terms of dollars. Wickstrom said we have $114,000 left of that $300,000 and we are holding $167,000 in retainage. Bennett said he has some concerns, one being that there was a flaw in either the specs or selection of the contractor. Bennett said he is not one that believes just because we have money somewhere, it should be used. He said he understands that most of the contracts come in within or below the engineers budget so as a general rule of thumb, Public Works does a good job in managing contracts, however this one was probably a little more sophisticated than usual. Heydon discussed the change orders that have been approved -on this project and stated they amount to 6.8% of the contract amount. He said from a change order standpoint, we are still less than 10% and the problem we have is with the contractor being very slow in completing the work. Bennett said the other issue is, because the general contractor has a problem, the subs are getting raked over the coals. Wickstrom said that in order for them to file their claim and take their legal action, we have to have the contract complete and take it to Council for acceptance. Wickstrom said there is $154,000 estimated work not completed and the bulk of that should have been covered under the contract, with the exception of about $54,000 related to the one well where we have the seal problem and sandy problem, 2 which we are still trying to address. Wickstrom said the rest of it should have been covered under his contract and our attorneys do not want to use the retainage or the funds that we still have because they want to reserve that money to resolve liens the subs will have and also, to resolve any other legal issues which may arise. Wickstrom said the things that we are trying to accomplish is, to get the plant back operational and get the project to a point where Iwe can accept it so these subs can file their claims and liens. Bennett asked if the 6.8% change orders were the ones authorized or the ones the contractor requested. Heydon said the contractor requested many more than we authorized. Bennett agreed that in terms of the contract, 6.8% is small and is hardly worth spending time worrying about. Bennett said because of the need to finish the project, he is willing to support it however, he stated that it should not go under Council Consent calendar. Bennett said this shows the need for a Capital Facilities Manager or Projects Manager that works for the City to do the contracts. Wickstrom stated that in his 25 years with the City, this is the first contractor that we actually told to get off the job, essentially because he didn't complete his work. Wickstrom said that we have spent millions and millions of dollars over those 25 years. He said this is a complicated project to begin with and we followed the correct steps as far as having qualified engineers who were involved in the design however, we had a contractor that was apparently short on money. Committee unanimously recommended authorizing the transfer of $154,000 from the unencumbered water funds to the 212th/SR167 Water Supply & Treatment Facility Project Budget (W48) and that this item not be placed on Council Consent Calendar. Van Doren's Landing Way Street Vacation Funds Wickstrom said that in conjunction with the approval of the street vacation for Van Doren's Landing Way, we should receive about $148,000. He said we have several sidewalk problems and recently with an accident on 112th, pedestrian issues came up, therefore we are proposing to widen the east half of the street to 18 feet. He explained that this would create a 6' paved`''walking path from the school at 232nd to 240th. Wickstrom said the Mayor met with the principal, PTA members and neighborhood representatives and they were all receptive to the proposal. He said there is enough money in the sidewalk fund to do this. We have a project out to bid for approximately $200,000 with the commitment on 111th and over on Smith Street; this leaves us about $160,000 however, we have at least $300,000 - 400,000 of needs in the downtown area. He said if we had this money for sidewalks, specifically for sidewalk pedestrian improvements in the travelled areas towards schools, we could do both. He said the project on 112th is about $65,000 but this would give us more money to spend on other sidewalks. 3 Committee unanimously recommended that a new fund be established for the receipt of the monies associated with the Van Doren's Landing Way Street vacation and that the monies therein be utilized for pedestrian walkway improvements related - to school travel patterns. In response to Bennett, Wickstrom said that the Pedestrian Comp - Plan will be part of the Transportation Plan. He said that the' tree plan is being worked on by a subcommittee and they have selected a landscape architect to help select the appropriate tree - for planting. Wickstrom said that in the first phase of the Downtown Sidewalk Rehabilitation Project there are several trees in that plan which is why we need this landscape issue resolved. Metro Shoreline Improvement Grant (Kent Lagoons) Wickstrom said when we were pursuing the acquisition of Union Pacific Property, we were to get a $1 million dollar grant; $500,000 from Metro and $500,000 from King County Conservation Futures Funds. He explained that this grant is our agreement to get the $500,000 from Metro and we are requesting authorization to execute the agreement. Committee unanimously recommended approval of Council to execute the agreement. In response to Clark, Wickstrom said that we actually purchased 282 acres and about 65 acres was not encumbered by the grant which allows other optional uses thereof. In response to Bennett, Wickstrom said we hope to have design of this project complete in 1994 and be under construction in 1995 with a one year construction time. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m. 4