City faces higher cost

The City of Portland is faced with the possibility paying a higher cost for a completed project because of an engineering company’s errors.
Portland Board of Works on Thursday voted to table requests for two change orders — totaling about $128,000 — and forward them to city attorney Bill Hinkle and engineering company GAI Consultants after learning from Indiana Department of Transportation it will have to increase the cost of the contract for the Indiana 26 (Water Street) project.
Changes to the contract are because GAI Consultants, which was hired to work on the water and sewer portion of the project, had engineering flaws in its work.
The project included a new road with 11-foot-wide lanes as well as new sewer and water lines, 16 LED lights and 4-foot wide sidewalks. In the original contract, the project cost $4.29 million, with the city responsible for about $1 million.
One change order requires an additional $36,923.60 to make up for the company shutting down their work after realizing there were errors to the project. The other, worth $91,057.60, is for the amount of new piping and manholes that had to be redone.
Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman and fellow board of works members Jerry Leonhard and Bill Gibson all said they are not happy about being asked to make payments for issues over which the city had no control. They said the additional costs should be paid by GAI because it was responsible for the errors.
“We’re disappointed that the cost overruns have been brought to our attention,” said Geesaman. “The city didn’t do any engineering, didn’t do any design. I just don’t think the city should have to pay any of this.”
“I feel the same way,” said Gibson. “They’re the ones who did the engineering and all the changes are from bad engineering.”
Leonhard said he agrees 100 percent with Gibson and Geesaman.
The change order is required to be paid within 30 days of INDOT sending an invoice.
In other business, the board:
•Approved to award a bid to Frontline Construction for $59,869 to fix the exterior sides and front of Portland City Hall. The other company, Mullenkamp Building Corporation’s bid was only $27,684 plus $3,200, but primarily for painting. Gibson said Frontline has the higher cost but will maintain the property for the next several years.