Council approves SRF project, change order and pay requests as staff details wastewater equipment failure and construction progress

The Nevada City Council voted to accept a State Revolving Fund (SRF)–sponsored project and approved a reduction change order and several pay requests related to wastewater and SRF construction work.

Council approved resolution No. 100 accepting the SRF-sponsored project after a motion to approve; the council then approved change order No. 4 (a reduction) and passed pay requests including pay request No. 6 in the amount of $19,362.06 and pay request No. 37 for wastewater treatment improvements.

Why it matters: the SRF-funded work and related wastewater improvements involve capital construction, potential liquidated-damage calculations tied to substantial completion, and multi-month equipment lead times that affect when final payments and closeout decisions occur.

City staff said the project is near substantial completion but that a recent electrical failure in April damaged equipment, flooded portions of the facility and has delayed final acceptance. Jordan, a staff member, said a progress meeting is scheduled and that “there are still pieces of equipment that we're waiting on due to the electrical failure that happened back in April. So there's a 2 month lead time on that.”

A consultant on the call described the technical cause: “The issue that occurred was on the utility power side, at the lift station where there was an under voltage event ... the power blip did not last long enough. It was less than 1 second ... and that's a programming issue ... the drives were programmed to not automatically restart as a safety feature.” The consultant added the evidence points to a utility power issue and that drives have been reprogrammed to reduce the risk of a repeat.

Staff said the generators and alarm behavior were factors in the failure and that a fiber line has been run to the site and that alarms should now reset the system automatically. Jordan said the project team will “have to work with HR Green and figure out what the liquidated damages amount to and go through that” once substantial completion is reached, and that they expect to be “pretty close to getting that within the next month or so.”

Council members asked whether payments would be required now or only after closeout; staff clarified that final payment determinations and any liquidated-damage assessments will occur at or after substantial completion.

Council and staff also discussed that the SRF contractor has begun work at the fairgrounds and will move west and north toward Lincoln Highway, and that the contractor will be working in sections to complete creek-bank reinforcement, tree removal and reshaping. Tim, a staff member, said some trees will be removed and the area will be opened up visually, noting permanent seeding is likely to wait until next spring and that temporary seeding will be used this year.

Discussion-only items included reminders that additional pieces of equipment remain on order, and that staff will report back after scheduled progress meetings. Formal council actions recorded at the meeting were the approval of the SRF acceptance resolution, approval of the reduction change order No. 4, and approval of the listed pay requests; the meeting transcript does not record roll-call tallies.

Council adjourned after the approvals and updates; staff will return to the council with further information on substantial completion, liquidated damages and final closeout costs when those amounts are known.