Council gets first chance to discuss dam contract

FREMONT – Fremont City Council members get their first chance to hear more and weigh in publicly about a proposed Ballville Dam removal contract with MWH Constructors on Thursday, as the council looks at a guaranteed maximum price amendment for the project’s first phase.

The GMP amendment will be discussed at a utilities committee meeting prior to the council’s regular meeting. That committee meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers, with the $1.6 million price amendment to the city’s contract with MWH Constructors will be on the agenda for a first reading.

Mayor Jim Ellis said in June he anticipated the project’s first phase to come in about $2 million lower than originally estimated.

A pair of council members on opposite ends of the dam removal debate said Wednesday they had looked at the contract amendment.

Councilman Joe Michles, who voted against the dam removal ordinance, said his mind had not changed on the project and he would not be supporting the contract amendment.

“I’m not going to support something I was against in the first place. I think we should have done nothing,” Michles said.

Councilman Bob Gross, a supporter of removing the dam, said he was encouraged by Ellis’ statements and the idea that less money spent on the dam removal would mean less taxpayer money being spent by the city.

Ellis said MWH had originally estimated the cost for subcontractor work performed in phase one to come in at about $3 million.

He said the lowest bid received for the subcontractor work was around $1 million. In the guaranteed maximum price amendment, the contract sum is for $1.618 million.

That contract sum includes the estimated cost of subcontractor work, construction stage personnel costs of $151,761, additional allowances of $202,000 in case additional drilling or concrete is needed for the ice control piers, a contingency fee for MWH of $73,417 and general conditions costs of $58,457.

There is also a construction manager’s fee of $77,088 for MWH included in that contract sum.

Michles said he didn’t understand why the city would want to sign a contract when it still doesn’t have a needed permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the dam removal project.

The councilman also noted that the issue of whether the dam removal ordinance will be subject to a November voter referendum is still undecided in the courts.

Gross said he remembered when council members were debating in 2014 whether to remove or repair the dam and comparing the costs associated with each option.

He said the $11.5 million originally thrown out as an overall estimate for dam removal is now substantially lower, with Ellis putting the latest figure at $9.5 million.

“I’m excited to get this project moving and get it done and over with,” Gross said.

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter:@DanielCarson7.