City rejects contractor’s bill for change order in fire station construction

    The Clear Lake City Council has directed City Administrator Scott Flory to meet with representatives of SEH, Inc. to negotiate the amount the city is willing to pay for a change order the architectural firm made on the city’s new fire station without Council approval.
    Stan Owens, lead technician, architectural services for SEH, told the Council at a recent workshop that during the excavation at the rear of the building substandard materials were discovered in the subsoil.

    The discovery occurred on a Friday, and with rain in the forecast through the weekend and into the following week, the contractor ordered materials amounting to nearly $27,000 so that a tank could be installed before conditions deteriorated any further.  Owens said the cost was later reduced to $20,781.
    Council members did not agree with Owens’ explanation of weather and the timetable it would have taken to execute a change order as a reason for the work to have progressed without the city’s approval of the additional cost.
    Council Representative Terry Unsworth said minutes of a pre-construction meeting noted the high water table at the project site.
    “There could not have been a surprise factor.  They had to know based on your own report,” said Unsworth.  “They were only a phone call away from you and they didn’t call.”  Unsworth went on to say unforeseen soil and - Read More Via e-Edition