City commission approves change orders for contractors on unfinished street projects

The Madison City Commission has taken another step in handling four unfinished water system improvement and reconstruction projects in the city.  During their meeting this week, commissioners approved change orders and winter shutdown agreements for the three contractors for the four different projects.  The change orders put in writing what commissioners had discussed last month with City Director of Engineering and Community Development Ryan Hegg and City Engineer Weston Blasius.  

Two of the change orders approved by commissioners Tuesday were with J&J Earthworks of Milbank, the contractor on Phases 1A and 1B of the city’s Rural Development project.  These phases were for work being done in the northwest area of the city.  Hegg told commissioners the change order for Phase 1A changes the final completion date for this portion of the project, with the consideration of liquidated damages if that date isn’t met.  

For the Phase 1B portion of the project, Hegg said that J&J Earthworks had not met the interim or substantial completion requirements.  The change order approved by commissioners changes the interim completion date on this project to October 1st of 2022, with the final surfacing work needing to be completed.  

The city’s third Rural Development project is Phase 2A, which includes streets in the northeast area of the city.  The contractor is Halme, Incorporated of Lake Norden, and city engineers said that they had substantially completed the project in December, which was two months later than what was in the original contract.  The change order approved Tuesday by commissioners changes the interim completion date for the segment of the project on Northeast 9th Street to October 4th of 2022, and for the segment of the project on Northeast 8th Street to October 25th.  The substantial completion date for the project is changed to December 8th, and liquidated damages will begin to accumulate once work can be resumed in the 2023 construction season.  

The last change order approved by commissioners Tuesday is for Winter Contracting  of Brookings, the contractor for the reconstruction project on Northwest 9th Street.  For this project, the milestone completion date for Phase One of the project is moved to June 15th of this year.  Liquidated damages could be considered if the new milestone completion date is not met.

January 20, 2023