A construction project has been dubbed a “fiasco” after Councillors learned of cost overruns totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars. The project involves constructing a storm water pond in Dumasfield, and road paving and utility services work.
At an emotionally charged meeting last Tuesday, Councillor Sterling Johnson said he was appalled to read about the extra costs required to complete the project.
“The homework was not done on this,” he said at the regular public council meeting.
He wasn't alone in his concern.
Calling for accountability, Councillor George L’Heureux asked who was responsible.
“I am,” replied Jim Blaney, senior representative for WSP, an engineering consulting firm.
“You sir, should be fired,” replied L’Heureux.
Lac La Biche County's mayor was also at a loss.
“When I look at this, I’m terribly disappointed,” said Omer Moghrabi.
Councillor Colin Cote said there was no justification for paying a professional firm to perform inadequately.
After a lengthy debate, Council approved additional funds of $676,000 to offset extra costs and complete the project, which came about after Lac La Biche County sold a parcel of land in Dumasfield to Points West Living for construction of an assisted living facility. A condition of the sale was that County would provide a paved access and utility servicing to the property in time for them to open. WSP started the infrastructure design to service the PWL development in August, 2016, and issued drawings for review on September 12, 2016. PWL started clearing the land the following month.
It later emerged that, according to changing environmental regulations, areas of Dumasfield were classed as wetlands because of dumping from a LacAlta Lodge storm system drainage ditch; this meant that Alberta Environment required a wetland assessment and compensation for developing a wetland area. On March 14, 2017, County awarded a $1,557,863.23 project to Rock Hard Contracting; the work involved a Dumasfield Storm Pond, and improvements to 90 Avenue and 91 Avenue.
Construction started in June, 2017.
Work on the base and paving of 90 and 91 Avenues, as well as underground utilities, was completed by October. However, the contractor was unable to finish the pond and drainage work in 2017 because of the environmental approval process. As a result, the County had to pay for “remobilization” of equipment and maintain a temporary storm water pump for several months.
Approval finally arrived in January, 2018. Construction on the pond and connecting storm sewer was completed in May, but remaining work to clear up waste piles, fill in approved wetland areas and build a temporary access road was delayed owing to wet and frozen conditions and funding approval for extra costs.
In a report to Council, Administration said: “Project scope additions, extra charges due to environmental overruns, underestimated cost estimates, soil quantities and considerably more environmental impacts than previously understood for both 90 Avenue and the Storm Pond have placed the construction project in a negative balance.”
A lengthy “extra work summary sheet” presented to Council and the public last Tuesday, included: removal of stockpiled waste material (cost: $61,313); additional costs for installation of gas line and power crossings under Beaver Hill Road to Services PWL ($25,300); and over excavation of 91 Avenue ($14,172).
The report suggested WSP had committed errors in estimating Storm Water Management Pond (SWMP) excavation quantities (cost: $112,151), estimating SWMP common excavation quantities ($56,849), and estimating SWMP clearing and grubbing quantities ($28,208). Among many other costs were those caused by a delay in Alberta Environment approval for the pond; this included pumping costs of storm water – $47,500 – and snow clearing and grubbing of the pond area – $65,899.
Councillor Johnson said: “I have never seen such a fiasco.”
L’Heureux said he wanted to know what the outstanding costs would be before approving anything.
Consultant says there were factors
Blaney said extra costs came about because the proper infrastructure was not in place and approvals were required from Alberta Environment.
“We had to do a biophysical analysis on the wetlands and submit it to Alberta Environment,” he said, explaining that some of the materials were placed in the wrong spot.
“Had we been on-site during construction we would have caught it,” he said, adding that 10 test holes had been conducted on the site in preparation for construction, but admitting that test holes are only good for a small area around them. Councillor L’Heureux asked why 20 test holes were not done, if there was such a big variance.
Good history of work
Councillor Jason Stedman asked about the track record of WSP.
Brian Shapka, senior manager of Public Works, said: “We have had quite a few successful projects with WSP.” Blaney added: “Beaverhill Road was one of our projects.”
Council deferred discussion and a decision on the project until later in the meeting. When Council returned to the discussion, Councillor Cote said the County had little option but to complete the project.
Councillors approved Cote’s motion to allocate $500,720 towards Dumasfield Storm Water Pond to complete that portion of the project. They also agreed with Deputy Mayor Colette Borgun’s motion to put $66,780 towards work on 90 Avenue. Money for both these projects will come from accumulated surplus funds in the budget. A third motion to reallocate $108,500 from accumulated surplus towards the 91 Avenue Extension to complete this portion of the Points West living Spaces project was also approved. Finally, Council agreed to direct Administration to conduct test holes along the 91 Avenue road alignment.
