Town lighting change order raises questions

An end may lie ahead for the never ending story of Cathlamet's decorative street lighting project.

The town council will hold a special meeting at 3 p.m. next Wednesday to discuss with its consulting engineers how to pay for the latest addition to the project's cost.

Several years ago, the council began replacing old street lights with new, decorative lights as street improvement projects occurred. The new lights are seen on Broadway and 2nd streets, and new lights are scheduled for Main Street this year.

However, delays and adjustments have pushed the project back and reduced its scope. The third phase of the project was to have had the decorative lights from the Puget Island bridge down Main and along the waterfront paths at Strong Park all the way to the Elochoman Slough Marina. The project is now down less than a dozen lights, and the council is wrestling with how to pay, or who should pay, for the most recent change order.

The town's consulting engineer, Skillings Connolly of Lacey on September 9 submitted a change order requesting an additional $38,000 for a change in specifications. The change would cover the cost of opening the sidewalk at the base of six lamp posts to connect to a buried electrical line.

The additional $38,000 would raise the estimated project cost to $169,915.36.

Clerk-Treasurer Tina Schubert explained that the engineering firm hadn't realized there was no conduit to the buried power line.

"How did this occur," asked Mayor Dale Jacobson.

"I'm completely dumbfounded," said Council Member David Goodroe, who helped plan and organize the initial project in a previous term on the council.

"The specifications say to use the conduit in the footings," said town attorney Heidi Heywood. "There are no conduits in the footings."

Schubert added that the engineering firm had changed personnel handling the project.

"There have been several problems with the specs," she said.

Council members discussed choices they could make, including canceling the whole project.

That, however, would prove costly, too, for the town has received project funding from the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT), and the contractor has ordered the lights.

"Potentially we would need to refund all the money we have received and spent so far, buy the poles we have in manufacture, and come up with a new plan," Public Works Director Duncan Cruickshank wrote in his report to the council. "Any new plan, for example, lighting along the walkway around the lagoons, would cost as much or more than the change order."

"We're left holding the bag," Goodroe said.

Mayor Dale Jacobson suggested the town probably could hire a contractor just to connect the lights at a lower cost than the change order indicates.

"I would be in favor of holding the engineering firm's feet to the fire," said Council Member Wally Wright.

"That's an option, too," Goodroe said.

Schubert said she needed to go through the scope of work and change orders to certify to WSDOT that there have been no duplications in the project.

Jacobson said he would meet with the engineer on Wednesday, and council members said they wanted to attend, so the meeting was changed to a workshop.