Ark Valley News - Tigua Street contractor penalized for being late

Tigua Street contractor penalized for being late
By Taylor Messick
Last Updated: August 31, 2017

Kechi city officials have recently met with Flint Hills Materials Inc. to determine a new completion date for phase one of Tigua Street.

Flint Hills Materials failed to complete the project before the original deadline of July 14. It will now be assessed damages of $600 per day until the new completion date of Sept. 8. The majority of the damages will be used to pay PEC an extra $25,000 for overseeing the project during the time extension. However, the city will retain some savings.

“We knew the date had passed," said City Clerk Laura Hill. “We still had PEC on the job doing administrative inspections and overseeing construction. They were told many times that contractors would be there, and contractors hadn't been there. This is amending the original contract with the new proposed date of Sept. 8 with additional fees that will be involved. Those fees will be paid by the state and they'll be offset by the liquidated damages that are going to be assessed to the contractor."

City representatives agreed at the previous council meeting that the best course of action would be to give Flint Hills the opportunity to finish the job under a revised schedule. They did not feel that switching contractors at this stage would be wise.

“They are intent on finishing on time according to the latest work schedule," said City Administrator Bob Conger. “I advised them that we will look forward to that completion on time. They're fully aware of the importance of complying with the benchmarks within this work schedule. I feel very confident that we're getting back to a point where we can get this finished up relatively soon."