Council approves settlement and mutual release for self‑digester coating work

The Special Common Council approved a settlement and mutual release agreement for the self‑digester coating work after staff described a phased inspection and approval process that city engineers will sign off on before final acceptance. City project manager Michael Garski told the council the agreement ties final release of liability to completion of work “to our liking, complete with all inspections” and that each phase must be approved by Donahue, the city’s engineer, and the city before the contractor may proceed. Garski said the parties have cycled through multiple application attempts and that the warranty applied to the coating contract remains in place. City attorney Steckbauer told the council the current proposal differs from an earlier, incomplete agreement the council had expected last year because this version includes all parties to the work and is driven by recommendations from the city’s engineers. Steckbauer described the package as “the best we could come up with” and said it reduces the city’s reliance solely on a limited warranty by adding phased inspections and multi‑party agreement language. A council member moved to approve the settlement and mutual release agreement for the self‑digester coating; the motion was seconded and carried by recorded action. Discussion versus decision: council discussion focused on oversight and the distinction between application quality and material warranty. Staff reiterated that if application procedures can be shown to have been completed properly and a material failure later occurs, the material warranty would be the next remedy. The formal action approved the settlement and mutual release as presented; no additional direction to staff to renegotiate terms was recorded. No statutes, ordinances, or other legal authorities were cited during the discussion. The council recorded the motion as carried (official tally noted as 9–0 in the meeting record).