12-19-2001 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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C4a fr V 9� 414 cam, a ;IAYOR Michael 1. Fahey COUNCIL Beverly Scalze Jim LaValle Matt Anderson Rick Montour 515 Little Canada Road, Little Canada, MN 55117 -1600 ADMINISTRATOR (651) 766 -4029 / FAX: (651) 766 -4048 Joel R. Hanson www.ci.little- canada.mn.us MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Fahey & Members of the City Council FROM: Joel Hanson, City Administrator DATE: December 14, 2001 RE: Final Payment to Great Western for Lift Station Projects As you know, a dispute resulted between Great Western Corporation and the City regarding the final payment due for the completion of the lift station reconstruction projects on County Road B2 and Dianna Lane. The Council had authorized a settlement of 2, 179.14 (the same amount Great Western had agreed to in a meeting with staff on August 29th) that was rejected by the contractor. We went to conciliation court on November 21'. Great Western claimed a payment due of over $4,000. The awarded amount was $2,728.44 that is due by December 24th unless we take the matter to District Court. Another matter to be considered is Great Western's refusal to submit a claim for sewer back -up damage to their insurance company. The claim is for $912.05. The claim resulted because Great Western's electrical subcontractor forgot to turn the power back on to the Dianna Lane station after he finished work on it on July 24th. That night, sewage backed up into the home at 2457 Dianna Lane. The claim is for reimbursement of clean -up costs associated with this back -up. The property owner's insurance company rejected the claim, as they did not have coverage for this type of event. Great Western claims that they are fourth in the line of responsibility behind the homeowner and the City. As a result, they refuse to process the claim. Regarding the hearing officer's decision, I feel a number of errors were made that would be overturned in District Court. They are as follows: ➢ Great Western claimed $1,131.60 for storage of the units due to road limits impacting Dianna Lane when delivery was to occur. They had agreed at the preconstruction conference to do so and never mentioned any charge. Not until they became upset with the Engineer for his handling of another claim did they submit charges for this work. However, our contract with them clearly states any claims are to be made in writing within 30 days of the event. Their claim was made 115 days later. r They also made a claim for extra filling and grading at the County Road B2 station. (The hearing officer denied this amount based on a verbal agreement between Greg Schroeder and Great Western's on -site superintendent. This was for $640 and was also made beyond the 30 -day notice requirement. (It is also interesting to note that when the claim was initially made it was for four hours of equipment time totaling $480. The claim was later revised to add four hours of laborer time and bring the total to $640.) Page 136