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Council discusses contract time extensions, unforeseen work and Saint Michael’s punch list
Summary
City staff recommended granting 27 weather-related contract days and described broader schedule extensions and unforeseen site conditions affecting multiple street and utility projects, including outstanding punch-list work at the Saint Michael’s project.
Biloxi city staff told the City Council that contractor schedules for several street and utility projects should be extended to reflect weather-related lost workdays and other unforeseen site conditions, and recommended granting 27 additional days based on meteorological data from Keesler Air Force Base.
City staff said the additional 27 days are “based on Keesler’s meteorological data” and recommended council approval; staff also said total permitted extensions on the contract could reach “up to a hundred and 9 days.”
Why it matters: the extensions affect project completion dates for multiple capital projects — including work on Camellia Street, Southern Avenue and the Saint Michael’s site — and could change when contractors reach punch-list and cleanup phases. Council members pressed staff about whether the extensions change the city’s ability to assess liquidated damages and what happens when contractors shift crews among projects.
Most important facts: a staff presenter told the council that monthly data provided by Keesler Air Force Base is used to identify weather days that the contract allows the city to grant the contractor as excusable time. That staff member said the 27 days recommended “is purely just weather” and not related to other time requests the contractor has made for design issues on Camellia Street and Southern Avenue. The same staff member said the contract allows liquidated damages to be applied if a contractor exceeds allowable time and that the city typically reduces pay applications by the liquidated-damages amount on a per-day basis.
Council and staff described separate non-weather issues that have extended work schedules. Staff said MDOT (Mississippi Department of Transportation) overlay work and unforeseen foundations tied to earlier beach-era structures required redesign and additional work on Camellia Street. The council also discussed the Saint Michael’s project, which staff described as largely complete but still carrying a punch list the city expects the contractor to finish.
Public works staff told the council about unexpectedly large subsurface findings on some streets and the cost and schedule impact those discoveries caused. The council heard that during one earlier street project crews encountered 2,500 cubic yards of creosote-contaminated material that had to be removed to a hazardous-waste landfill, an effort staff described as taking months.
What the council directed or decided: in the portion of the meeting captured in the transcript, staff recommended the council approve the 27 weather days; discussion focused on the recommendation, design-related time requests, and the city’s use of liquidated damages. The transcript does not record a separate roll-call vote on the 27-day weather extension during the excerpt provided. The council did approve routine agenda actions and other motions recorded elsewhere in the meeting.
Context and next steps: staff said they are continuing to evaluate contractor requests related to non-weather design changes (for example, the Camellia Street tie-ins) and will return to council with recommendations on those items; staff also said they apply contract language, including liquidated-damages provisions, when evaluating pay applications. The council asked staff to press contractors on cleanup and punch-list completion on projects such as Saint Michael’s.
