On July 6, Columbus City Council hired Neel-Schaffer Engineering to manage a $5.5 million paving/concrete infrastructure project after the city’s project management contract with J5 Global expired at the end of June.
On the night the council approved hiring Neel-Schaffer, both the concrete and paving projects were far behind schedule, Neel-Schaffer’s Kevin Stafford told the council, with just a quarter of the work done on a project the city hoped would be complete by the end of August.
That’s not going to happen.
The same issues that stalled and delayed the projects — rainy weather, crew shortages and turnover and equipment problems — make it unlikely that either contract will be completed in the amount of days allotted for the job.
Both JEM Concrete and Walters Construction, which are doing the paving, have completed roughly 50 percent of their work, said Zach Foster, project manager for Neel-Schaffer. But time is quickly running out.
The JEM contract is based on a calendar schedule with an end-of-contract date of Sept. 9. The Walters Construction contract was based on a working days calendar schedule that accounts for weekends, holidays and weather delays. Foster said there have been 59 days working days used, which means there are 26 working days remaining.
Columbus interim Chief Operations Officer Mark Alexander Jr. noted that work on the projects has picked up recently, but it is doubtful either company can meet its deadline.
“I think it’s nearly impossible for them to meet the contracted deadline,” said Alexander, who contacted Foster at the end of July to ask why the projects had stalled.
“On the concrete side, they really ran into a few bad events with workers, some that quit, some moved,” Stafford said. “They lost their best finisher and tried to subcontract it out, but there were complaints about the work. We sent (JEM) a letter asking them, ‘What’s your plan?’ They wrote back that they were bringing in additional workers. We’ve seen production pick up the last couple of weeks.
“On the paving side, production is still behind,” Stafford added. “They had equipment break down and that shut things down for about a week, but as of Friday of last week, the part they need is on its way and they should be back paving this week. Overall, it’s been slow and difficult. We’ve really had to stay on top of them. They’re continuing to do the work and making progress.”
The contractors are subject to a $500 per-day penalty for every day work on the projects extends beyond the contract deadline.
While noting the city could extend the contract through a change order to allow more time, Alexander struck an ominous note on that subject.
“From the city’s perspective, for every day they go over the deadline, it’s a $500 per-day penalty,” Alexander said.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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