Donahue & Associates, the designer of the traffic lighting project at South Michigan, Oakhill Avenue and Soice Street appeared before the Board of Public Works and Safety Monday evening to seek a reallocation of funds for the project.
Donahue said the scope of the design project changed with additional design elements. With funding left over in the Construction Inspection and Inspection line items they would like to allocate all the remaining money, $16,664 into the design line item.
The city engineer, Rick Gaul and city attorney, Sean Surrisi said the design elements were discussed and brought to their attention well before the construction phase. The city representatives felt that Donahue had every chance to increase the lump sum amount for the design phase but failed to do so in a timely manner.
The representative from Donahue said they should have been more diligent and accepted the blame for the confusion.
According to paperwork submitted to the board of works, the initial additional cost was $14,928. It then increased to $15,585 and finally ended up at the $16,664. Councilman Jeff Houin questioned why the additional was not itemized and Clerk Treasurer Jeanine Xaver questioned, “You exceeded the lump sum with prior authorization?”
In the end, the Plymouth Board of Public Works and Safety denied the request to reallocate the additional $16,664.
