After a 25-minute discussion Monday, the Clearwater City Council voted to hold back a substantial payment to R.L. Larson Excavating for work done on the North Area Street & Utility Improvement project.

Members of the council and Administrator Kevin Kress decided the quality of work was not up to par, and decided to table a pay request of $235,389.92 until they had a chance to talk with the contractor about resolving some of the issues.

The contractors were in town over the last few weeks replacing driveways, curbs and putting down bituminous to try to finish off the project that started 18 months ago.

 

Before the vote, Engineer Joe Pelawa with Bolton & Menk said the final wear course was completed, but there were still some punch list items that would have to wait until next spring.

 

“When they came in and did their work, they focused on getting the curb and gutter work done so they could at least get the wear course done,” he said. “So there is some concrete work behind it and there are a few driveways that need to be replaced. They were thinking they could get some of it done this year, but everybody is busy and temperatures are just not conducive for doing it.

 

On item still to be completed is a concrete swale to direct water from away from a driveway.

 

Pelawa said he noticed the blacktop is too high on an area on Walnut Street between Maple Street and Lime Street.

 

“Water is supposed to flow across the road,” he said. “It holds the water in the gutter line.”

 

He said he also noticed a few areas where the blacktop is higher than it should be along the curb line.

 

“We already talked with the contractor about that,” he said.

 

Councilman Mike Ranum said there is also an issue with the final wear course on Maple Street. He said there is a visible ridge in the middle of the street between  Spring Street and Co. Rd. 75.

 

“You can see it,” he said. “It’s not level.”

 

Mayor Pete Edmonson was concerned about the contractor delaying the final punch list items in the spring.

 

“Do they know they’re coming to us first or are we going to get crumbs in June, July or August after other projects are done?” he asked Pelawa.

 

“They better start coming to us first,” said Pelawa.

 

He said the contractor worked to the very last date to get the work done. So the project is already past the contract completion date.

 

When the pay request was brought before the council, Kress said he was not comfortable paying the contractor.

 

“They rushed it. There’s a lot of areas they made huge mistakes,” he said. “One of the biggest problems I have is with the tar connecting to the concrete curb. Some areas it’s an inch high by the curb. For some reason they avoided getting close enough to the curb to compact it the way it should have been. I think it jeopardizes some of the engineering.”

 

He said the fact that they worked until the last day showed they didn’t have any motivation to get the job done. And, he said, the weather was still warm enough to finish some of the punch list items.

 

“The contractor needs a little bit more accountability,” he said. “One of them needs to come and explain some of the work that’s been done that doesn’t meet the quality standards.” 

 

The council voted to table the pay request until the December meeting while Kress and Pelawa meet with the contractor to try to resolve the issues.