City delays $45,000 vote
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The extension calls for an additional $45,000 for 60 additional days which calculates to three months of work days. EG&G, which is the landscape architecture, planning and engineering firm that created the Main Street project blueprints, currently monitors the progress and procedures of APEX Construction. The requested 60-day extension would move EG&G’s contract expiration date to Dec. 30.
“I just don’t think we have $45,000 to fund this,” Alderman Bobby Kirby said after voting to defer.
When bids were accepted in April of 2004, EG&G bid a 12-month administration and field representation contract. That contract was accepted.
Because separate construction bids came back over budget the first time, bids were accepted a second time for a period of 14 months. Construction companies indicated their bids would be lower if given a longer period to complete the project.
Since a bid was ultimately granted to APEX for a 14-month contract, it meant EG&G needed an extension to its 12-month contract. EG&G was given a two-month extension with the stipulation the city would pay $45,000 if the extension was enacted.
Due to rain days and other delays, APEX is not scheduled to have the majority of Main Street work completed until Nov. 30 and the full job completed until the end of the year. Even during the days that APEX was unable to work, EG&G field engineer Ed Vander Horst was still on site in McMinnville.
“The city has told us that until we can finalize a specific time period and scope of work, they have given us the authorization to continue to work knowing that we will end up getting an amendment processed that would continue our services until the end of the project,” EG&G construction administrator Rob Clary said.
After the official meeting ended, council members convened across the hall to have an informal meeting with EG&G and APEX Construction.
During this time, past and current figures and dates were reviewed. That was followed by discussion on the necessity of the field representative and the construction administrator.
“I don’t know what your contractual obligations are right now but someone is going to have to do the recording, and if EG&G doesn’t do it then I guess that would have to fall back on someone in the city,” APEX co-owner Greg Brock said. “Even on private projects we like to call in a third party to make sure things are checked.”
Mayor Royce Davenport also voiced his concerns about the grants that were involved with this project and the limitations these grants put on procedures.
“We don’t want to mess one of these grants up because the first time we do we will be looked over the next time,” Davenport said.
The EG&G contract will come up for vote at a second reading Sept. 27 at 7 p.m.