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Board approves amendment to Barge Design agreement; legal counsel urges higher liquidated damages
Summary
The Town of Thompson's Station approved an amendment to Barge Design's contract extending construction and engineering inspection services at the wastewater treatment plant. Town legal counsel said recovery options from the contractor are limited and recommended increasing liquidated damages (historically $1,000/day) to better capture costs.
The Town of Thompson's Station voted to approve an amendment to the professional services agreement with Barge Design to extend construction and engineering inspection services at the town's wastewater treatment plant.
At a board meeting, town legal counsel advised that the town's remedies for recovering additional costs from the contractor are narrow. "Your remedy is through the liquidated damages that we have already approved and voted on," counsel said, noting existing provisions had already been applied and suggesting the town revisit the per-day liquidated-damages amount.
Counsel explained the town has typically used roughly $1,000 per day for liquidated damages and said staff should consider increasing that amount to better capture additional expenses tied to delays. "For as long as I can recall, it's been around 1000 dollars per day. Maybe we need to look at $2,500 a day," counsel said.
Board members discussed the proposed change and staff cautioned that the contract change orders and future adjustments also need accounting. One board member laid out a rough calculation referencing the project's cost: "we take your $2,215,000 divided by 140 days... it's, like, 1,500 a day," arguing for a higher, defensible liquidated-damages figure to cover taxpayer costs.
Staff and counsel said they will consider adjustments to future contracts to ensure damages are legally defensible and aligned with actual administrative costs. The board approved the contract amendment following that discussion.
The board also asked staff to continue tracking substantial-completion milestones; counsel and staff said the project was close to substantial completion but still working through electrical and other issues that justified the contract amendment and liquidated-damages accounting.
Action taken: the board approved the amendment to contract 2026002 with Barge Design. The town indicated it will review liquidated-damages language and consider adjustments in future contract documents.
