The Citizen
10/01/2008
Centerville City Council members have delayed their decision on a request by the city engineer for a more that 50 percent increase to his bill to oversee work on CSAH 14.
Engineer Mark Statz explained at the city's September 24 meeting that his company's initial cost estimate of $55,428 to oversee Anoka County's work on CSAH 14 through Centerville had fallen short by some way as the 20 weeks of work budgeted in the 2007 and 2008 was insufficient to see the project through completion. "The reality of the situation is that the time has proved to be significantly less than what we really needed so we are asking at this point to increase our bill on this project by $35,000 to continue our efforts through to the end of the project," said Statz.
“We also thought at the time [of the initial bill] that Paul [Palzer, city public works director] and his staff would be able to spend a lot of time on the job; however, due to the resignation earlier this year and also there has been a hail storm … we have had to fill in the gaps there where we had planned to count on city staff to fill in and keep the costs down.” City council members expressed disappointment that they had only received news of the request the night of the meeting. “That’s a huge increase in the budget; that’s nearly 100 percent of the initial estimate,” said Council Member Tom Lee. Statz added that engineering staff had been spending on average 20 hours a week observing and reviewing the work of the Anoka County contractor on CSAH 14. “Our staff was so short this summer it was not able to do it,” added City Administrator Dallas Larson. “There were things that went wrong right away and we did need to have eyes and ears on the project, so there was some justification for having the time on the project.” City council members tabled the decision until their next meeting.
If approved, the oversight will cost the Citizens of Centerville a total of $90,428. Is this how Centerville should be spending our tax dollars in today's economy?
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8 comments:
"Engineer Mark Statz explained that his company's initial cost estimate"
Our City engineer has his own company working for the City? Is this correct? It might be a confict of interest. Who is this guy and what is going on?
Excuses, excuses, yet they keep spending!
Mark, just to help you understand a little. The City contracts Engineering services. Mark Statz is an employee of the contracted engineering company. The City does not employ an Engineer, they contract for services, same with the City Attorney. The Engineer and Attorney are typically appointed in January of each year and can be replaced at anytime.
Hey anonymous, the City is still paying for it aren't we?
Hey Julie, the City is still paying for it, but what would the cost be to the City to have a full time engineer on staff? Mark seems to believe that Mark Statz is an employee of the City and hired his own company to perform engineering, suggesting a conflict of interest. I know you won't post this, as this is my second post responding to Julie.
A contract is a contract. You signed didn't you. Why do you think you can make more money because YOU misjudged the price tag?
Hey Anonymous,
Nobody has advocated hiring a full time City Engineer. It is an interesting thought process you have and after considering it, not completely unfounded.
Just what did Centerville receive for the reported $487,000 paid to "engineering services" in 2006?
One could safely assume that the constant reporting of Statz as the "City Engineer" in the local press would have some residents believing this to be true.
A better use of time for you might be addressing this with the local papers instead of constantly complaining here.
I see anonymous has attempted to create a credible blog. What a joke! People will see it for what it is and anonymous will be laughed out of town!
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