The Fiscal Committee on Nov. 21 heard from the Department of Administrative Services about a major construction project in a residential neighborhood that paused after testing found design problems. Charlie Arlinghaus, commissioner of administrative services, told the committee engineers’ work revealed “design errors and design flaws,” and the agency stopped the most obvious work to determine and implement fixes.

“We did a lot of testing on things like the piles and some of the concrete work that was done, and found design errors and design flaws,” Arlinghaus said. He added that the proposed remedy is a settlement from the engineers’ insurance that “will go in large part to making everything right and making the design work.”

Arlinghaus said other parts of the project continued while the most visible phase paused. Ted Kupffer, director of public works, was introduced as the agency point on the project. Committee members pressed for a timeline; Arlinghaus said officials now project completion in 2027 and that crews plan to restart test piles “probably next week.”

Senator Riddens, whose district includes the site, asked for details about the stoppage and the schedule. Arlinghaus described the pause as a prudent step to redesign and remediate rather than proceeding with known defects. After brief questioning the committee moved and adopted the item to accept the agency’s settlement and remediation plan.

The committee adopted the item by voice vote. The agency did not provide a precise dollar total for the settlement during the committee session, and members asked staff about follow-up reporting and implementation steps.