River Bend Times

With an item on the agenda calling for discussion or possible action on a construction project on University Avenue, Durant Council Member Tom Daufeldt took a moment to answer a resident’s question about the matter.

“I see that you have an agenda item today, which is the last agenda item in regard to that, in order to make a decision about a potential contract with the present construction company involved in that construction, I also noticed that there does not seem to be a link to the actual contract in the documents associated with that agenda item available for the public,” Mike Davis said in addressing the council during its December meeting. He was seeking answers about the parameters of the project and who has the contract.

Daufeldt was called upon to respond and provide an update of the situation. “First thing I want to do is address Mr. Davis, his comments,” Daufeldt said. “I agree with them in know as much information as possible. We help the public. The contract has been put out to the public.”

The council explained that the contract they were discussing at the meeting was a change order contract decided upon at the Nov. 28 meeting. This was done to rescind a contract cancellation given that the construction company made some changes.

The change order has been submitted to the company and much discussion has been had. The project manager that was previously on the project is no longer with the company, which changes the speed and quality of communication. The company has shown a lot of interest in benching the project for now and starting it when they are reorganized. The city had later meetings scheduled and were hoping for a guarantee on their changes, so they tabled the issue for later.