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Council authorizes cancellation of Mosquito Lake boat-ramp restroom project after cost, ownership and safety concerns
Summary
The Cortland City Council voted to let the mayor cancel the West Main/Mosquito Lake restroom and boat-ramp improvement project citing repeated bid overruns, ownership by ODNR, extensive water-line costs and safety concerns; council recorded one abstention.
The Cortland City Council on April 20 authorized the mayor to cancel the West Main Street/Mosquito Lake boat-ramp restroom improvement project, R-26-26, after council members and the project sponsor raised cost, ownership and safety concerns.
Jim, who asked council to cancel the project, said early bids came in about 20% over the engineer's estimate and a second round still was “just under 10%” over, and that the project site is not inside Cortland’s city limits. “This project is not within the city of Cortland at all,” Jim said, adding that the restroom structure would be owned by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and that the city would incur substantial unbudgeted costs to extend water lines more than 1,000 feet to serve the facility.
Jim also said portions of the existing parking lot lie in a floodplain and expressed concern about long-term management risk and vandalism. The police chief confirmed the department had received complaints about the area and expressed safety concerns about an enclosed restroom at that location.
Jim said the city has not drawn any grant reimbursements for the project and that cancelling now would allow the city to return or reallocate design funds and release contractor bid bonds so bidders can pursue other work. He added the city will coordinate with ODNR, the architect and the bidders on next steps.
Council took a roll-call vote after the discussion. The tally recorded six yes votes and one abstention (Chris Wadley). According to the roll call, Chelsea Monroe voted yes, Kevin Pyros yes, Scott Raley yes, Chris Vatis yes, Chris Wadley abstained, Allie McGregor yes and John Piccirillo yes.
The resolution instructs the mayor to proceed with cancellation and with notifying stakeholders and bidders; council did not rehearse specific next expenditures or reallocation of grant funds during the meeting. The presiding officer said staff will follow up with ODNR and the architect about reimbursing or reallocating design funds and releasing bid bonds.
At the meeting Jim said he will send formal notices to ODNR and the architect and work with staff on how to communicate the cancellation to affected parties. The council did not take additional actions on the Mosquito Lake property during the session.
