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Regular Council Meeting September 28, 2020 Page 7 City Engineer Carla Easton said work on this project began in January 2020, and the entire time the contractors experienced wet conditions causing the material coming out of the trench to be saturated. She said sewer work was completed around May, so contractors moved their crews to another portion of the project while the material testing lab came in to do the density and moisture checks. Ms. Easton also said there were 12 compaction tests and 11 failed, which meant that the street was not yet ready for asphalt repair. She said the crew moved to other parts of town, and that the street was ready for resurfacing on October 5. Brent Bufe, representative of Oscar Renda said the company was working diligently on the schedule, but due to Covid, the company was down 30% companywide on employees so they were unable to send in a second crew. Mayor Clifford said the contract was first presented four years ago; it went into effect in February, which was before Covid began. Mayor Clifford inquired if the City had notified the company of the $500 per day penalty fee for everyday they were over the schedule, because they were ten months behind. Mr. Bufe stated they had used almost a full year's worth of rain days since beginning this project. Mayor Clifford asked for a copy of the signed form where they applied for the rain days. He also said to blame the delays on Covid was not an excuse because the entire project should have been completed before Covid started. Mayor Clifford asked about work still pending. Mr. Bufe said they needed to finish the work on 401x' S.E. Following additional discussion about the failed compactions tests, and the groundwater control plan, Mayor Clifford inquired of Council if they thought a third party should be hired to investigate this entire project before they accept it and sign off on it. Council Member Hughes said the contractor showed no urgency to satisfy citizen concerns, and then thanked the citizens for coming to the meeting. Council Member Savage said he felt the residents were disrespected as far as time, effort and their personal property and that was a concern to him. He also said the Council had to do their job to make sure they were hiring the right people, and that the City staff should do the same. Council Member Portugal said the issue was doing the job correctly, and in a timely manner. She also said the City expected the street to be finished, well and soon. Council Member Knox asked about the City's role in the planning process. Ms. Easton said she worked with the design consultant AECOM to help manage contractual issues, review pay apps and had monthly meetings. She stated there was an on-site, third party inspector that was there every day to take pictures and coordinate with the contractor. She said it was not a good season to dry out material, so at the end of their utility work, they mobilized to another project, and that was a mistake. Ms. Easton said the paving would be complete next week. Council Member Pilgrim said Oscar Renda was in 42 states and the citizens of Paris viewed the delays as a major problem. He also said it was unacceptable that the company could not send in a second crew to complete the project in a timely fashion, because they were such a large company with over 3,000 employees. Council Member Pilgrim said it would be worth the City's time to write a letter to the CEO about the progress of this contract, that $500 a day was nothing for a 24 million dollar project and the City of Paris would not be a good reference for the company.