The Rushford Village council, and residents of South Rushford, are patiently awaiting completion of infrastructure upgrades that are part of a $878,000 improvement project. A long time coming, the project was aimed at continuing efforts to get the city’s paved roadways back to maintainable conditions and includes substantial roadwork in South Rushford. However, the project has been sluggish and the contract’s official substantial completion date of September 17 is rapidly approaching.
“Everybody here in this room is a little concerned that McHugh isn’t going to be able to meet the deadline,” stated Project Engineer Josh Pope, of Bolton & Menk. Pope conceded that additions to the project were made, including a culvert and widening on Highway 43/Whitmore Street, as well as the reconfiguring and paving of the Nordic Lane cul-de-sac paving. Weather has also hampered the project, but both the city and residents have seen a noticeable absence by the contractor on the project site.
“In terms of resident feedback, there again, everybody that’s been impacted shares the frustration that the project has gone on this long,” added Pope. According to Pope, the contractor has left the site temporarily or has at least been unseen.
“There’s a lot they could have been working on that they have not,” said Councilor Rich Smith, a South Rushford resident. “I haven’t seen them anywhere. That’s the biggest complaint I’ve heard. It was a nice week. Where are they? Why aren’t they working?”
“Not including possible weather increases, they probably are due some increase to that date,” added Pope. “But, even with that said, we issued a notice to the contractor this morning that, ‘Hey, we are concerned and please be aware that should you not meet contractual obligation, there is a clause of liquidated damages, which for this project is $850 per day. It’s not a penalty; it’s a recognized damage recovery.”
Pope explained to the council that this method protects the contractor through awareness of contract parameters and consequences and it serves the city by recovering financial damages for lack of completion. He indicated it is difficult to quantify the damage, so reasonable damage estimate amounts are determined pre-bid. Wherever the date is determined, for every day the project is not substantially complete, the city will recover $850 per day via deductions to the contract amount.
“We’re hopeful that if nothing else, it grabs their attention. We do feel that they should act accordingly. It’s still achievable,” continued Pope. “We were all told by the contractor at the end of May that we expect the project to be done in mid-July and here we sit. That’s where the concern certainly lies on our part.”
As for project standings, Pope indicated that concrete contractor Knuston Construction Services, of Rochester, has been secured by McHugh. “We were told they were going to start work today, but they held off for the weather. We have our fingers crossed that we’ll see them on site to do concrete the work,” said Pope.
Upon concrete completion, another subcontractor will be mobilized and brought in by McHugh to reclaim the specified roadways, followed by paving. The final completion date for the project is October 1. After that date, there are still liquidated damages, but at a reduced rate. “There are steps and policies in place within the contract to see this thing moving along. If they don’t, there is recourse there. We do feel they can meet their deadline, we’re just very hopeful they take the appropriate action to meet all of that,” stated Pope.
In other news, the city has set the preliminary budget for 2017 at $425,000, including $20,000 in Local Government Aid. According to City Clerk Mary Miner, it’s likely that the city will come in a little under budget for 2016. The city will set the final levy amount in December.
The city has been approached by Jen Hengel, representing the Rushford Peterson Valley Chamber of Commerce, regarding a grant that’s being submitted by the Root River Trail Towns. The grant is being coordinated with Fillmore County Public Health and is aimed at securing funding for a community bike program. If the Village participates, it will be the fifth of the nine trail towns to do so.
The $3,000 per city program makes bikes available for rent by visitors and residents over the age of 18 to increase outdoor recreation and mobility. It includes bike, helmets, racks, and $500 budget for bike maintenance. Bikes are rented and then returned to same town in which they were checked out. For collateral, user’s credit card information is collected. An option to hold user’s driver’s licenses is being looked at for cities without merchant credit card processing capabilities.
“I had three people ask this morning that have asked if we have bikes for rent,” stated Hengel.
The Rushford Public Library board willing to take on lending program for bikes, as it isn’t an option for the Chamber to take on responsibility of the lending portion. If the Village approves participation in the grant application, it would be submitted in October and the bikes would arrive next spring. The Village will wait until the next meeting to make a formal decision.
The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Tuesday, September 20, at 7 p.m., at the Village Hall. The public is encouraged to attend.
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