43
Trumbull commissioners to ask MS Consultants to compensate county for sewer mistakes
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County commissioners are expected to approve a resolution today to invoke a dispute-resolution and mediation clause in the contract with MS Consultants of Youngstown for its design and inspection work on the Kinsman sewer project.
The project was constructed by Marucci and Gaffney of Youngstown. County officials said problems were found with the construction, such as “sags” in the sewer lines instead of them having a level slope.
The county hired an outside law firm, terminated its contract with Marucci and Gaffney and sued, but the matter went to arbitration, and a panel of arbitrators ruled in favor of Marucci and Gaffney.
The arbitrators said the “greater weight of evidence” indicated that poor engineering by MS Consultants and poor project management by MS Consultants and the county – not poor construction by Marucci and Gaffney – was to blame for the problems with the sewer.
The arbitrators ruled that the county was wrong for terminating the contract and that MS Consultants “prevented [Marucci and Gaffney’s] performance and completion of the project.”
Commissioner Frank Fuda said the mediation will be an attempt to get MS Consultants to compensate the county for the roughly $2.4 million Sanitary Engineer Randy Smith estimates the county lost as a result of the arbitrators’ decision. Another county official estimates the total will be about $2.1 million.
“These contractors are responsible if they did something wrong,” Fuda said. “They should fix it or pay to have it fixed.”
MS Consultants was paid $2,025,987 for the project, including $771,746 in May for additional inspection work required because the project took longer than expected and to devise solutions to fix substandard work.
Fuda has repeatedly stressed that the $2.4 million of unexpected costs associated with the arbitrators’ decision will be borne by the customers of the county’s Metropolitan Sewer District, of which Kinsman is a part.
But Fuda said he doesn’t know how much of the $2.4 million will be picked up by grants the county received for the $10.6 million project.
Gary Newbrough, project coordinator for the county engineer’s office, said the total so far that will be charged to the 12,500 customers in that district is about $1.8 million.
But he said he believes there is still about $300,000 more owed for road and sidewalk repairs that were made. That brings the total to about $2.1 million.
That $2.1 million is a charge to the sewer district, which is in areas around the perimeter of the county, Newbrough said.
That district had a surplus of $3.2 million at the end of 2015, so it’s possible no rate increase will be needed immediately to offset the $2.1 million charge, Newbrough said.
The county has another sewer district, called the Mosquito Creek Sewer District, which serves about 7,000 county sewer customers in the center of the county, including areas between state Route 193 in Fowler and Elm Road in Howland. That area is also just north of Niles and as far north as Cortland, Newbrough said.
Newbrough provided The Vindicator with a chart showing $800,000 in repairs to the project that were covered by state and federal grant money.
The companies doing that work were Kirila Contractors, JS Northeast and Lee’s Excavating. The Lake County Building Inspection Department also videotaped sags in the sewer lines from the inside.