Contractor has not started project, city council weighs delaying project to 2025

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

As the clock ticks down to the substantial completion date of the city’s water tower project, the Deer Creek City Council continues to wait for the project to not only be completed, but started in the first place.

During its regularly scheduled meeting last week, the Deer Creek City Council heard from two representatives from Bolton and Menk about the city’s water tower rehabilitation project. To date, no work has been completed on the project and one representative from Bolton and Menk, Inc., said the company that was originally awarded the bid has not even mobilized in Deer Creek. Even if the company were to show up in Deer Creek last week, there was a question of whether the project would be completed by its October 15 deadline. 

“We have some concerns over whether this will get accomplished this fall and what is the best course of action to move forward,” he said, stating the timeline for construction was typically 6-8 weeks. 

In April the City of Deer Creek awarded a low bid of $353,050 from Onyx Blasting and Coating for this summer’s water tower rehabilitation project. The city received eight bids in all ranging from the bid from Onyx, all the way up to $852,500. The low bid was attractive to the city as it was about five percent lower than the estimated $372,300 cost from city engineers Bolton and Menk, Inc. 

Since that time representatives from Bolton and Menk, Inc., said the contractor has been pushing back the start date stating they have been delayed in other projects it has been working on this year. However, both individuals from Bolton and Menk, Inc., said they have not received timely answers or responses from Onyx Blasting and Coating about why there has been such a delay and what would happen if the city were to push its project back to the start of 2025. 

“We have been communicating with the contractor since July for a schedule and there has been very little response,” said the other representative from Bolton and Menk who was at last week’s meeting. “It is highly unlikely if they started today (that they would complete the project this fall). They just don’t have the time.”

Since it was unlikely the project could be completed yet this fall, the Deer Creek City Council essentially had two options before it. The first would be to seek liquidated damages from the contractor for not completing the project on time, or agree to push back the entire project to next spring.

Should the city seek liquidated damages the city would likely need to rebid the project next spring, but would be compensated monetarily for damages the city incurred by not having the project completed this fall. If the city agreed to push back the project, several city council members said they would want to know the project would be completed right away in the spring next year.

City councilman Jayme George said if the city goes back to the bidding process it could end up costing Deer Creek more money since prices will likely go up next year, and the entire bidding process takes time and money as well. Onyx Blasting and Coating’s low bid was approximately $140,000 below the next lowest bid the city received. 

While not making a formal vote on the matter, several city council members said delaying the project until next year would likely be in the best interest of the city, as long as Onyx Blasting and Coating agreed to come to Deer Creek right away in the spring. That way the city could lock in its current low bid and not have to seek additional bids next year. 

While pushing the final completion of projects back from one year to the next is not necessarily uncommon, the first individual from Bolton and Menk to speak last week said it is uncommon to not have a contractor even show up on location.

“I have not been involved in a project where they just did not show up,” he said. “At this point they have done zero in our mind.”

As part of the project the city will be rehabbing the 100,000 gallon water tower in town with a new safety climb system, new 24” pressure manway access in the bottom of the tank, a new tank mixer, new recirculation pump, new “mud” valve at the bottom of the tank, as well as several other repairs to the water tower. 

In order to make the repairs the water tower will need to be taken off line for a portion of the project and the City of Deer Creek was planning to install at 10,000 gallon pressure tank to keep water flowing in town for the entirety of the project. 

In other news

• Heard a request from the owners of Wet Woody’s Pub and Grub about closing the street in front of their establishment for a grand opening celebration on September 28. The city will inquire with the county about closing the road.

• Heard the digital sign at the Lions Park has not been working properly. Representatives from the Deer Creek Lions Club said Indigo Signs has been on site to make a repair, but the sign is still not in working order.

• Heard a request from a resident concerning properties that were in a state of disrepair. The individual said he attended a meeting last year to make a similar request to have the city clean up dilapidated properties in the community. The city council said they recently sent out a pair of citations to property owners stating they had 30 days to clean up the properties. 

• Heard the city’s water and sewer billing software will no longer work at the end of the year. The city will need to investigate different options for its billing software before the end of 2024.

• Approved the hiring of Heather Kephart as the new city clerk/treasurer. Former city clerk/treasurer Tom Parish has agreed to train Kephart into the new position when she starts with the city. Jayme George abstained from the vote. 

• Approved the hiring of Lyndsey George to continue doing the water and sewer billing for the city. Jayme George abstained from the vote. 

• Approved hiring Jake Seelhammer to replace the wiring on each of the 10 poles in the downtown area to make way for new Christmas lights. The cost to rewire the poles will be approximately $450 apiece. 

• Approved repairing some of the pot holes along Soule Ave to Baker St. in Deer Creek. Councilman Dan Hendershot abstained from the vote.

• Discussed the need to get representatives from the Deer Creek City Council, Deer Creek school reunion committee and Deer Trails Day committee to see if there is a way to switch the day of Deer Trails Day in 2025. George said he has spoken to a number of people in the community who have said attendance was down significantly this year due to the town festival being held the same weekend as a number of other town celebrations and the East Otter Tail County Fair. This was the first year the town celebration was on the fourth Saturday of July after being moved to June the two previous years.