Minutes - Council - 10/23/2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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project. He asked the Council to hold a future discussion about writing contracts more tightly, possibly offering an incentive for the developer to finish early, because "time is money." The Council discussed the Landform request and how the contract is overseen, noting this is an after - the -fact funding request to double the cost for construction administration. City Administrator Ulrich indicated if the Council does not approve the additional amount, it would be at contractor's risk if it did not receive Council approval prior to expending the work. However, it is somewhat fluid as to when the contractor knows the costs are reaching the maximum and needs to schedule an extension request on the Council's agenda. City Administrator Ulrich explained it is primarily the responsibility of the City Engineer but also the responsibility of the independent contractor to bring it to the City's attention when costs are at the limit of what was approved. Councilmember Strommen stated her concern with considering payment after - the -fact and pointed out the Council had established precedent in other cases to not approve retroactive amounts that had not come before the Council for preapproval or there had been no written documentation related to payment. She urged the Council to be consistent in how it handles similar requests. Councilmember Tossey stated his concerns relate to the perception of inefficient government and lack of accountability. Development Manager Lazan maintained there were important distinctions since this is not a contract where Landform controls the scope or price to which it is committed. He explained the former City Engineer determined the scope and every day staff determines the scope when they call Landform for work. By way of baseline, he pointed out inspection for WSB is $70,000 including survey time and WSB can cross bill time between survey and inspection. City inspection is also $70,000 yet the City picked $15,000 for Landform. Development Manager Lazan stated Landform has spent a considerable amount of time on this project beyond what was anticipated and that extra time has been driven by City staff, not Landform. He requested the Council approve the budget and stated he would provide more information, if requested. Councilmember McGlone noted there had been an extraordinary number of issues with this project and many involved Landform. In addition, with winter coming, staff wanted this road project completed prior to winter weather. Mayor Ramsey submitted that this situation is the product of a poor decision made when this project started. He noted while some on the Council had advocated to hire a professional it was decided to have City staff run this project and now it has come back to "bite us." He found the past City Engineer had under- anticipated the work of Landform and it was not right or proper to not pay a contractor who has provided a service requested by staff. Motion by Mayor Ramsey, seconded by Councilmember McGlone, to approve the modification to Landform's contract number RAM 12019 revising the maximum fee from $15,000 to $30,000 to cover projected efforts through completion of the project. City Council / October 23, 2012 Page 9of11