Chiloquin gym finished but delayed; district reports $5.74M cost, $42,000 liquidated damages and outstanding retainage

The business director told the budget committee the Chiloquin gym project is substantially finished and in active use, but its completion was delayed by permitting issues, tribal consultations and the discovery of artifacts during excavation, plus late-season weather and contractor performance problems.

Those delays prompted liquidated-damages assessments and additional district labor to finish work. The director said the district assessed roughly $42,000 in liquidated damages and currently holds about $40,000 in retainage because several contractor deliverables — including operations-and-maintenance manuals and unfinished warranty paperwork — remain outstanding. She also said district maintenance staff logged roughly $20,000 of labor to finish items the prime contractor left incomplete.

The director provided a project cost figure of $5,737,822 to date. She said some contractor workmanship (an unacceptable floor finish) required rework over spring break and that the architect Soderstrom is assisting to close out outstanding items. The district said it has adjusted its bidding and contracting process to disqualify firms with prior performance issues and increased liquidated-damages terms (from $1,000 to $2,500 per day) to deter future delays.

The director said the district expects the remaining paperwork and O&M manuals within a few weeks and that some retained funds may not be returned to the contractor in full depending on final completion and punch-list resolution.