LAURIE WEIR
The building of the new Smiths Falls water tower will “hopefully start this week,” Paul McMunn, the town’s director of public works and utilities, shared with council’s committee of the whole on June 10.
He was seeking approval for a change order that will see an upset limit of $126,239.39 (inclusive of net HST) for EVB to perform construction contract administration and inspection services for the water tower project slated for Air Care Drive.
McMunn was seeking approval to amend the scope of the work that’s needed on the $9.6M project (over a three-year period from 2023-2025).
“We don’t have in-house resources to administer a contract such as this,” McMunn said.
It was always the intention of staff to have EVB perform the contract administration and inspection services through to completion of the project – thus the reason for the work order adjustment.
Since award of contract to Landmark Structure Co. for construction of the new water tower, there have been two pre-construction meetings between EVB, Landmark Structures Co. and town representatives. These meetings between the consultant (EVB), the general contractor (Landmark Structures Co.) and the town are critical, McMunn noted, to ensure the following, particularly for this type of project scope:
- All required contractual documentation is in order, such as Certificates of Insurance, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board Certificate, construction schedules, etc.;
- Any design challenges identified by the general contractor are identified early in the project so they can be addressed by the consultant;
- Identify any site challenges that need to be addressed early to not impede construction progress;
- Review Quality Assurance (QA) protocols and Quality Control (QC) methodology to ensure compliance with the contract documents; and,
- Review shop drawings for compliance with the design drawings.
McMunn said, “EVB has the expertise and appropriate resources to offer these services on behalf of the town.”
There is a $100,000 contingency built into the project costs, McMunn noted, “for things that come up throughout the project.”
His suggestion of using these funds will cover a portion of the overage.
“It leaves us with a slight deficit at this point, given the fact that we’re not going to complete this project until 2025 and we need to put money away in the 2025 capital budget – it leaves us short about $14,000 at this point.”
Coun. Peter McKenna said it was a “wise use of the money.”
Councillors supported the recommendation and a resolution will come forward to the next council meeting for final approval.