With a contractor going more than a month over deadline on the Washington Fire Station project, costs have accrued and are being passed on. At Tuesday’s Washington City Council meeting, City Administrator Brent Hinson explained that contractor G&R Miller Construction went past the substantial completion deadline by 33 days and the final completion deadline by 54 days. Per the contract terms, G&R Miller Construction could have been assessed $24,600 in liquidated damages. However, the fees the City incurred as a result of the tardy work amounted to $8,720 according to FOX Engineering. After documenting further where the costs were incurred, Hinson said the amount they came back with was $4,733.50. He said the cost could be adjusted at the next meeting, but staff feels this is the appropriate amount, “We still have not done the closeout resolution that would be coming the next meeting, so you still have, theoretically that number could be adjusted, you know, down. But based on the information that we have, we believe those are, you know, trying to be both fair to the contractor and responsible to the taxpayers, those are expenses we would not have incurred otherwise, had the project gone forward in the timeframe it was supposed to.”

In a letter to the City, President of G&R Miller Rick Miller said, “We were the low bidder on the project saving the city several thousands of dollars. We met all the work and obstacles head on. Including several change orders and the time that was involved in getting these approved so we could then precede [sic] in a timely fashion and of course the numerous weather delays. We never missed a day on site when the weather and ground condition’s [sic] would let us work on the project. If damages were charged against us; the end result would be economically devastating to our small company.”

The council approved paying the company $32,752.05, retaining $4,733.50; it passed on a vote of 5-1, with the one nay being from Steve Gault.