Paullina Council Declines to Make Partial Payment
by Mari Radtke
Change orders for the lagoon project were part of the Paullina regular agenda on Monday December 16. Landon Michaels of Beck Engineering attended to answer questions. The first change order was submitted by Harold K. Scholz Company regarding the switchgear project. Superintendent Kelly Top was not present. The $314,800 change order approved a new timeline. Substantial completion moved from 10/1/2024 to $/30/2025.
The second change order, submitted by King Construction, the general contractor doing the sewer lagoon work, was for an expected payment for work done to the aerators and a partial payment for the sludge removal contract. City Attorney Tisha Halverson attended. The payment request included $77,000 toward the $154,000 bid to “remove the sludge” in cell 1. In late November the subcontractor to King Construction notified the city that there was estimated to be twice as much sludge in the cell as what had been bid, $154,000. The additional work was approved as a change order. The subcontractor estimated there was an additional million gallons of sludge needing to be removed.
Many questions were asked and answered between council, Michaels and Halverson. The amounts owed for contracted work completed was separated out from the additional request for the sludge removal. Halverson noted that the math between the payment application and the billing worksheet was not matching up. It was finally agreed to pay the amount for the work completed and nothing for the sludge removal to this point.
That decision was based on language in the contract. The city agreed to pay $154,000 for “sludge removal.” No quantities were specified or limited in the contract. While council understood a need to pay the subcontractor, it was stated they were not coming back. Council reached the conclusion that they were not going to pay part of the bill for part of the work they contracted for. The concern was that if they paid part of the contracted amount, the contractor would settle for that amount of money, leaving the city with a million gallons of sludge in cell 1 that they had expected to have removed.
A budget workshop for EMS followed the regular council meeting. Fire Chief Ryan Harper was present for the fire department. He outlined his 5-year budget plan that he had provided to each council member. He described activity of the department and the funding requirements for upkeep of equipment and PPE for firefighters. He focused on a new truck or chassis. There was some discussion of a new building and the city’s involvement. Harper explained how a fire department is financed – townships and city funds to a department. State law allows up to 60 3 / 4 cents per $1000 of property value for a fire department. Township funds get spent first and pay half the cost of apparatus costs. Townships also collect their maximum and reserve what is not requested, according to Harper. When asked if there was a formula between cities and townships he noted that each one is different. He does want to get some kind of formula figured out to be able to explain the city’s role to the townships when necessary.
The new building has not been bid, so there are no certain costs or requests from the city at this time. It came out that just the fire chief and assistant fire chief, Ben Eldridge, have been serving as the building committee, doing research, deciding amenities and design.
Council made it clear they wanted a broader range of people to become members of the building committee. Council specified and equal number of fire and EMS, police and some number of the public at large to serve. The budget request from the city for the 2025-26 fiscal year was not announced.