Two months after Clarkston rejected bids for a proposed DPW expansion project, City Council agreed to pay about $16,000 in outstanding engineering fees to James Renaud.
Payment was delayed until Mayor Joe Luginski, Council member Eric Haven, and City Manager Carol Eberhardt could meet with Renaud, city architect, regarding invoices for $6,012 and $9,997.25, for the DPW and city hall project.
“Joe and I both had reservations about the invoices,” Haven said at the July 11 City Council meeting. “I recommend we pay these. I think they are truly legitimate.”
Luginski was absent at the council meeting. Funds were approved in a budget amendment in the Capital Projects Fund last month.
Council had approved $23,000 for the project, and the two invoices were in addition to that amount. Renaud said the extra spending was due to changes in the project requested by the city in April, 2015. His agreement with the city did not require him to come back to the council with cost overruns, he said.
Work on the project included studies of Deer Lake beach property and other areas for a DPW expansion in 2014, three design options in 2015, then a three-bay design let out for bid this past April.
Haven made the motion to pay the three invoices.
“They did the work. We owe them the money,” he said.
The project was estimated at $335,785- $440,000, but bids came in ranging from $479,000-$538,500.
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City engineer Gary Tressel is slated to appear at the July 25 City Council meeting to discuss the walkway from M-15 to the south bridge in Depot Park.
Resident Robin Johnston called for clarification from city engineers about the bridge, at the July 11 City Council meeting.
According to a report by city engineers Hubble, Roth, and Clark, the bridge exceeds five percent slope in at least 12 locations, requiring hand rail or slope reduction under the Americans with Disabilities Act, she said.
A letter written by Hubble, Roth, and Clark on Oct. 12, 2015, however, says the pathway complies with ADA, Eberhardt said.
“I asked specifically about a fence and curbing, and he (Tressel) said, ‘no.’ He said you could, but it’s not necessary,” Eberhardt said. “He said you could take an average.”
“I talked to another engineer who said we shouldn’t take the average,” said Council member David Marsh. “This is something we should be able to get answer to.”
– Phil Custodio