Warwick council approves $200,000 spending authority after discovery of underground tanks, questions raised about $91,493 disposal charge

The Warwick City Council on Dec. 16 approved an increase in spending authority of up to $200,000 for Bid 2024322, the City Hall Plaza site improvements, after contractors uncovered two previously undocumented underground storage tanks and removed soils from the site.

The additional funds will replenish contingency authority and cover remaining potential change orders associated with the site work, city planning director Tom Kravitz told the Finance Committee and the full council. Kravitz said the change order covered “two underground unforeseen storage tanks and associated contaminated soils that had to be removed from the site, which cost just under a hundred and 44,000,” and the requested $200,000 is intended as a cautious cushion so the administration does not repeatedly return to the council for minor, additional change orders.

Why it matters: council members and members of the public pressed administrators over whether soils were in fact contaminated, and why the city was being invoiced roughly $91,493 for disposal when state closure documents submitted by the contractor indicate laboratory results “were below DEM standards” and that “contaminated soil was not encountered as part of the UST closure work.” The exchange put the administration on the defensive about project oversight, documentation and fund source choices — including the use of ARPA…