City Council to discuss adding funds to completed overcrossing project

The Sports Parks Pedestrian Overcrossing over State Route 113 opened to the public in February after nearly three years of work to provide bicycle and pedestrian access to the Community Center and Sports Park.

However, city staff are asking the City Council to adopt a resolution to add another $185,000 to the project for construction management and inspection services with UNICO Engineering Consultants, Inc., for a total agreement amount of $940,376.47, during their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, March 19.

They argued in a staff report that the $185,000 would ensure continued compliance with city and Caltrans quality assurance requirements and construction management.

The approved capital budget includes roughly $8.1 million in funding for the project, consisting of roughly $3.7 million in funding identified from capital projects, $1.5 million in funding from southeast area infrastructure funds, $350,000 from water enterprise fund and roughly $2.6 million from the road development fund.

A city staff report noted this increase is due to unanticipated construction delays that made the project take more than double the contract time to finish.

“Construction management and inspection costs are based upon the expected construction timeline and a reasonably anticipated work effort for inspection and testing,” the report stated. “When construction is significantly extended, even if by no fault of the city or the construction management team, it results in added costs. In the case of the pedestrian overcrossing, the added costs are related to the extra time required by the construction management team to stay engaged with the project managing the contractor beyond their contractural time, added effort documenting project issues, delays and costs as well as constantly working to get the contractor to complete the project.”

Additionally, the report noted there was added coordination with outside stakeholders, landowners and Caltrans associated with the contractor delays as well as the continuing inspections and testing necessary.

“With the construction complete, the remaining work effort will support the city in addressing any claims submitted by the contractor and closing out the project,” the report added. “The time for construction completion was more than double the contracted time, and the construction management and inspection costs only increased by 37%. Further, the average cost for construction management and project inspection is between 15-20% of the construction cost. If approved, the new total contract amount represents approximately 17% of the construction contract.”

City staff are requesting the council approve the final contract of $940,376.47 with UNICO Engineering during their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, March 19, to ensure continued compliance with city and Caltrans quality assurance requirements and construction management.

If interested in submitting a public comment before the meeting submit them by email to CouncilMeetings@cityofwoodland.gov.

For instructions on how to submit a comment or to view the agenda for the meeting, visit cityofwoodland.gov/654/MeetingsAgendas.