Staff report

WARREN

Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Fuda says he is not happy with the $150,000 that MS Consultants of Youngstown agreed to pay to the county in relation to work MS did on a big Kinsman sewer project, but the county’s attorney said it is “the best we could do.”

Atty. Dave Detec negotiated with MS Consultants for more than six months before reaching the resolution, Fuda and Commissioner Enzo Cantalamessa said.

The contract contains a “nondisparagement” agreement that says the county and MS Consultants will not make disparaging statements about the other party. The commissioners approved the settlement this week, resolving a dispute over the company’s design and inspection work on the $10.6 million sewer project that serves about 350 homes and businesses in the Kinsman Center, Farmdale and Kinsman Township areas.

In 2016, the commissioners sought compensation from MS after a panel of arbitrators found that the “greater weight of evidence” indicated that poor engineering by MS Consultants and poor project management by MS Consultants and the county were to blame for problems with the sewer line that required extensive repairs.

County officials estimate that the adverse ruling by the arbitrators cost the county more than $2 million.

MS Consultants was paid $2,025,987 for the project, including $771,746 in 2016 for additional inspection work required because the project took longer than expected and to devise solutions to problems.