Library construction delayed by disagreement of engineers/lawyers

At the regular meeting of the Belleville Area District Library on July 10, the library’s architect Dan Whisler gave a long report on the disagreement between the city’s engineer and the library’s engineer and lawyer that is on the cusp of delaying construction and costing taxpayer money.
As long as workers are on the site they have to be paid, he said.
Whisler said there are issues between the city’s engineer, Hennessey, and the library’s engineer, Beckett and Rader.
He said a final plan for the library construction was given to the city two months earlier and the library team got a letter of approval from Hennessey.
Whisler said the engineer of record had designed the project according to the City of Belleville standards, but there was a problem with the liability for the engineers dealing with this.
So, there was a modification sent to the city that was rejected. Other options were sent to the city, Whisler said.
“What the [city] engineers want is eight more sets of the drawings with this new language on each set,” Whisler said.
He said library board Chairwoman Sharon Peters and library Director Mary Jo Suchy met with the city manager and the building official and let them know the Belleville Area District Library would certify the plans.
Whisler said the library develops the construction drawings and the city issues the building permit once the plans meet the ordinance.
Hennessey has reviewed the plans and the design is approved with the caveat “if they missed something, the project will still meet all their standards,” Whisler said.
He said it is a catchall to state this project will comply with the engineering standards.
The reason it is onerous, according to Whisler, is that the requirement was written in all capital letters and required Beckett and Rader to conform to all standards as approved by Hennessey.
He said Hennessey’s standards aren’t published. They have given the library engineers their standards and drawings, “but we have no way of knowing if these are all of their standards.”
He said the library engineers could certify that the project complied with the standards provided to it on the day of design, but that was rejected.
“This project is a 20-month project,” Whisler said. “They can change standards at any time. The city could make the library comply with new standards. We don’t want the library to come back to us and say, ‘You said you’d comply with standards.'”
Whisler said their professional insurance company has gotten involved and, “They’ve engaged an attorney for us.”
“If the project is delayed, it can cost money,” Whisler said, due to what is on paper and posturing.
“Our professional liability insurer won’t let us do that,” Whisler said. “We are insured against negligent acts … Our insurance would not cover that we went beyond the standard of care.
“We can’t comply, the city engineer is refusing to budge, and we’re trying to find a solution,” Whisler summarized.
He said O’Neal Construction wants to start and hold a preconstruction meeting with the city and various trades. But Hennessey is refusing to schedule the meeting until they have eight copies with the required wording on each one.
Whisler said Hennessey said this is language they have used for 17 years in Southeastern Michigan and, “That may be true.”
“It’s a control issue set up by Hennessey and it’s costing us money?” said board member John Juriga.
“It’s on the cusp of that,” Whisler replied. “We have a greater sense of urgency.”
Whisler said he met with Director Suchy and library attorney John Day the previous Friday to talk about how to address this. He said Day met with the city’s attorney.
Whisler said he met with the city’s building official, Rick Rutherford, and they discussed reasonable solutions. Whisler said Rutherford was confident with having the library being the certifying agent.
“We went ahead and printed eight sets of plans without the wording and delivered it to the city on Monday morning (July 9),” Whisler said, noting it was an extra expense, but they felt it was necessary.
He said O’Neal wants to start and there are materials on site now. The certification issue is the holdup.
There is no willingness to settle the issue and set up the meeting, Whisler said, adding perhaps Rutherford could set up the meeting and invite Hennessey to come.
“Did anyone reach out to the mayor?” asked board vice chairwoman Mary Jane Dawson, who was chairing the meeting in the absence of Peters. “You need to contact the mayor.”
Whisler said they met with the city manager two weeks earlier and showed her two alternative solutions. He said Rutherford very much wants to see this go ahead, but he is following the lead of the city engineer.
“If I had my way, I’d have him give them greater direction,” Whisler said.
“Hennessey works for the city,” said Dawson. “The city council doesn’t know what’s going on. They work for the city.”
Building Committee Chairwoman Joy Cichewicz said the city engineers know their standards.
“This is a catchall,” Whisler replied. “Everyone knows it complies. It does comply. It’s a liability issue for our engineers. Our attorney said we should not do this.”
“The engineer has been a little bit stubborn,” Whisler said of Hennessey.
“If the preconstruction meeting doesn’t happen, we have to stop,” Dawson said.
Whisler said construction manager Matt Ratzow emailed him a few days ago saying one piece of equipment ran over a water line to the building and so they are repairing that.
“We opted to put eight sets in the hands of the city on Monday, until we can get a meeting scheduled,” Whisler said. “Rutherford and I reached an understanding today … that removes the liability for us if the library takes responsibility. The library would have to make that change anyway if it was required in the future. It’s part of building the building.
“We took what they gave us. What is the problem? It’s hard to commit beyond,” Whisler said.
“We’ve got to get everyone to play nice in the sandbox,” Whisler said.
“We’re losing time,” said Juriga. “It’s nice weather, dry.”
Whisler said he thought the city council was informed since John Day spoke with its attorney.
Whisler reported that DTE closed down Main Street for an hour on July 5 by dropping lines across the roadway without telling anybody in advance, including the city, while working on removing the overhead lines in front of the library building site. That was not part of the plan DTE gave the library a year ago, he said. He said the AT&T and Comcast lines were still across the site and DTE has yet to move utility poles from the south side of the alley to the north side, which is an added frustration.
Whisler said there was a pre-bid meeting earlier that day for the rest of the building and an addendum was issued in response to code reviews by the city’s planners.
“We have an issue with our curving staircase, which they say is too tight of a radius,” Whisler said. It has been changed to an oval, spiraling, to comply with the code.
Whisler said he built similar stairs in a corporate building that was fine, but he won’t argue and will revise the plan. He said the plan reviewer said that is the main stair and a de facto means of egress in an emergency.
He said there will be a subtle revision or a straight-run stair and Rutherford will make the call.
Whisler reported all the bids for library construction have gone out, including the asphalt, and the final bid-opening date is 1 p.m., July 25, and so by the end of the month they will know where they are budget-wise.
He said that meeting will be a long one because there will be a lot of bids to read through.
He said there is another application for payment from O’Neal Construction for digging the hole. Whisler said in August they should start monthly Building Committee meetings for updates on construction and review of payments needed.
In other business at the July 10 meeting, the library board:
• Learned the steel bid was awarded to Steel Supply and Engineering and it was $123,000 over budget, but, Cichewicz said, “We thought that was pretty good,” since steel prices were in question because of tariffs;
• Heard Cichewicz say the law has changed and you don’t have to hire at prevailing wage, so the library did not require that on bids;
• Approved a letter of understanding on the agreement with the Charles B. Cozadd Rotary Foundation for a grant of $50,000. This entitles the Rotary to free meeting space for at least 25 years, the naming of the first-floor meeting room for Cozadd, reasonable storage space for supplies, and appropriate recognition of the grant;
• Approved going out for proposals for an auditor, with a response date of Aug. 17. Suchy, in recommending the move, reported remaining with an auditor for a period of time can be helpful, since the auditor becomes familiar with the library’s fiscal policies and structure. On the other hand, a new auditor would provide a fresh look at the financial statements; and
• Was informed the $20,253.87 bill from the Wayne County Treasurer was because of a state property tax settlement with Wayne Disposal in Van Buren Township.