Committee hears update on terminated Glover & Associates contract; legal recovery seen as difficult

Committee members revisited the termination of the city’s contract with Glover & Associates and discussed options for recovering money or enforcing warranty obligations.

Dale, who was introduced earlier in the meeting as a representative of Infrastructure Solutions and later identified he was speaking “as an attorney,” told the committee the city had withheld payment on disputed payouts because contract performance was inadequate. He cautioned that pursuing liquidated damages or bond claims requires showing damages, which can be legally difficult to prove: “One thing about the legal system you learn when you're in this profession, you have to show damages,” he said.

Members asked whether performance or maintenance bonds would cover the kinds of defects observed on recent street work. Dale said bonds and maintenance warranties can provide remedies when the city has paid for work that later fails, but recovering liquidated damages where the unpaid amount is tied to alleged nonperformance is more complicated if the city has not already paid for and then sought recovery.

Committee members agreed the city attorney should lead any formal legal action and noted that one partial payout had already been made for base repairs. The committee also discussed the practical option of withholding final payouts until punch-list items are corrected and noted an insurance claim related to a vehicle that ran into wet concrete would be pursued by the driver’s insurer.

Next steps: the committee directed staff to continue coordinating with the city attorney on possible recovery strategies and to withhold final payment until punch-list items for the South Elliott project are satisfactorily completed.