The Orting City Council on July 9 approved a $73,381.81 change order authorizing the mayor or his designee to execute a contract amendment with Quigg Brothers Incorporated to cover the city's share of investigation and repair costs for anomalies found in drilled shafts on the emergency evacuation bridge project.

The vote was 6-1, with Council Member Moore casting the lone no vote. Council members who voted in favor included Council Member Hogan, Council Member Holland, Deputy Mayor Koenig, Council Member Gunther, Council Member Tracy and Council Member Sprowl.

Public Works Director McBee told the council that five drilled shafts showed anomalies during construction; further work confirmed repairs were needed for WR1 and investigation is required for WR2, which will require a separate repair proposal once redesign pricing is complete. Construction manager Scotty Ireland said the city accepted responsibility for WR1 and WR2 investigations as 'undisputed' and that the contractor's responsibility for three other shafts (P1A, P1B and ER4) remains disputed and is being handled through the city's formal protest process.

The staff memo attached to the agenda states shaft investigations occurred March 14'April 3, 2025, and shaft repairs were performed June 5'June 10, 2025, except for WR2, which requires redesign and further pricing. The memo and McBee's briefing cite the 2023 WSDOT standard specifications and special provisions (including coring and equitable-adjustment language) as the contract framework used to apportion costs.

Council Member Moore pressed staff on why the city would pay for conditions that he described as foreseeable in the project geotechnical reports, saying the lahar-zone geology and the risk of encountering large boulders seemed known. Scotland Ireland (Construction Manager) and McBee explained that while the geotechnical report identified the potential for boulders, the condition encountered at WR2'remnant boulder material that shifted after concrete placement and displaced shaft reinforcement'constituted a differing site condition that could not have been prevented by reasonable construction means and therefore falls to the contracting agency under the standard specifications cited.

City Administrator and project staff told the council the $73,381.81 represents direct city-share costs documented by force-account documentation; they also noted a contractor-claimed disputed amount of $116,612.13 for other shafts. Staff said the change order is being processed now in part so the city can bill the state for eligible costs in the fiscal year that ended June 30 and preserve possible reimbursement under the project grant.

Council discussion included requests from several members for the fully executed contract and for the engineers to appear at a future meeting to brief the full council on construction methods and the conditions encountered. McBee and Ireland confirmed work on Pier 1 and other substructure components is progressing and that WR2 repairs will come back to council when priced.

The motion, made on the agenda bill titled 'WR1 and WR2 shaft investigations and repair change order approval,' authorized the mayor to execute the change order with Quigg Brothers Incorporated for the city's undisputed direct costs of $73,381.81. The clerk recorded a 6-1 roll-call vote; staff said the council would recess to an executive session on legal risks under the state open-meetings law after the meeting with no further action expected that night.