Council discusses late design bill for community center fence; approves budget amendment from community center fee fund

The City Council discussed a late invoice of $6,130 from Precision Engineering related to the community center fence design and approved an amendment to the community center fee fund to cover the cost through the consent agenda.

Councilmember Lewis pulled consent agenda item 7(d) for discussion. Interim staff explained Precision Engineering was an on‑call engineer assigned by task order to design the project; the design work was performed in a prior fiscal year but the invoice arrived late, after notice of completion. Staff said the task order included a do‑not‑exceed amount and the late bill was within that limit, but the specific community center fee line item had reached its budget limit. The item therefore required an amendment to increase appropriations in the community center fee fund by $6,130 to permit payment.

Council discussed requiring clearer billing timelines and contractual language to ensure timely invoicing in future projects; staff accepted responsibility and said they would require timely bills from consultants. The consent agenda — with one unrelated item pulled — was approved and the amendment for the community center fee fund was included as part of the approved consent items.

Ending: Staff committed to improving billing and task‑order controls and to enforce billing timelines; payment to Precision Engineering will proceed under the authorized task order and the fund amendment will be processed.