Glen Strandberg
Staff Writer

In response to Pumphouse No. 1 not being completed for the city of Columbus by the Dec. 31, 2006 target date, city council members last week voted unanimously to collect liquidated damages from EnComm in the amount of $13,500.

”I think it’s right and I think it’s fair,” Mayor Mel Mettler said at the Wednesday, June 13 Columbus City Council meeting.

City Engineer Larry Bohrer of TKDA Engineers-Architects-Planners, brought the matter in front of the council members and requested action be taken due to EnComm’s failure to achieve substantial completion of the pumphouse until Feb. 8. 2007.

In the letter that Bohrer presented, it stated, “TKDA respectfully requests a supplement to its engineering agreement to be reimbursed for its additional cost due to the failure of the Contractor to finish on time.”

According to the contract documents, “liquidated damages in the amount of $500 per day shall be paid by EnComm to the Owner.” This was the pre-agreed amount.

Bohrer felt Encomm has not shown any justification for the delay in “substantial completion.”

Over the 39-day period from Jan. 1 to early February, TKDA waived 12 days because natural gas service was not installed. In Bohrer’s opinion, that still left EnComm with basically four weeks of extra time.

His letter went on to explain how those 27 days caused TKDA to have additional costs, because of “extended inspection time, trips to the job and finding no one working, and multiple punch lists and request for information.”

Therefore, TKDA has itemized its additional costs to be $9500 of the $13,500.

The agreement between Columbus and TKDA was for a total “not to exceed” fee of $107,150.

“That was a not to exceed figure and we have exceeded that,” Bohrer said during the council meeting.

“We have not billed the city. The city is the innocent party.”

A second motion by the City Council clarified that, provided Columbus retains the $13,500 — or some newly agreed upon amount between the city and EnComm — then TKDA will receive its $9500.

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