An inadequate concrete slab that was poured as part of the construction of a new water reservoir on South Ninth Street will be repaired at the expense of the contractor, the city manager reported last week to the Philomath City Council.
When the issue surfaced last summer, the city’s original position had been to remove and replace the slab, a costly endeavor for those who constructed it.
“Moving forward today, we recognize there’s an issue and we also recognize that a repair can be engineered and completed and constructed and we’re adding a warranty on top of it and the city’s comfortable moving forward knowing that,” City Manager Chris Workman said.
Workman has been working with the reservoir project’s contractor, HP Civil Inc., on the details of a contract for the repair. Once an agreement has been reviewed by legal counsel and signed by both parties, then work would resume at the site.
“It’s in every party’s best interest to move forward and get the reservoir completed,” Workman said. “It’s not getting any less expensive to have it sitting there as costs continue to go up.”
Workman anticipates a request for proposals on the construction of a new water treatment plant to go out by the end of this month.
“What we’re hearing from HP Civil is they believe those timeframes will still be able to get completed by the end of this summer,” Workman said.
In 2021, the city was awarded $12 million from the state through an appropriations bill. The city had been able to save $4 million to cover the anticipated cost of the project in full. Workman said the state funds should be spent by the end of the year.
“If they’re able to get back to work and get going on it, I don’t see any reason why they can’t be done this summer as planned,” he said.
The concrete slab, which measures 110 feet in diameter and more than 2 feet thick, was poured June 28 as part of the city’s construction of a $4.16 million water reservoir with the capability of holding 1.5 million gallons of water.
HP Civil won the contract for the reservoir project in November 2022. Marion Construction Co. of Clackamas was a subcontractor on the project that sourced concrete from RiverBend Materials.
Workman reported at a July 10 council meeting that RiverBend had equipment problems that led to delays and didn’t meet time requirements for the pour. At one point, Workman said the company was directing trucks to Philomath from Eugene rather than its Corvallis site.
As a result, the city and its longtime engineering firm, Westech, feared that there could be structural problems with the slab, which could ultimately impact the reservoir’s longevity. City Attorney Jim Brewer said last summer that if structural issues were detected, the removal and replacement of the concrete slab could cost $750,000 to $1 million.
Despite the delays, RiverBend’s team had believed the concrete had no defects and with Westech lacking the expertise needed for a comprehensive analysis, the city decided to bring in outside help.
In August, the council approved up to $60,000 to hire an independent consultant to test the concrete section.
Nothing had been heard publicly about the water reservoir project for months as city councilors worked through issues with legal counsel in executive sessions.
“This is a topic we’ve been dealing with for several months now and I believe the council’s pretty well versed in where we’re at,” Workman said, leading into an update at the council’s Jan. 8 meeting.
Workman reported on the findings of the independent firm that the city attorney’s office retained. Pivot Engineers, out of Austin Texas, determined that a repair could be completed using rods to tie two sections together with the end result strengthening the joints in place. The city manager said the work would make the reservoir as strong or stronger.
“We have full confidence in the engineer that can do that,” Workman said.
At the meeting, Workman said the city only had a verbal agreement with HP Civil over the details involving the work and payment but anticipated a written contract in the coming days. The contract negotiation was ongoing as of Tuesday.
“I have every intention that if it doesn’t have all of the things in there that we said we want in there, then we won’t sign it, send it back to them until we get one that does have everything we need,” Workman told councilors. “But I’m also very confident that they want to get this repaired, get it done and move on with the rest of the project as well.”
Workman said the agreement will include the stipulation that the contractor pay for all of the work that the city had to complete, such as the concrete testing. A warranty bond would be in place to cover the cost if failure should occur.
“The bond amount would be sufficient to replace the structure if it should fail and I think that’s a key in this in that this slab is the foundation for the rest of the reservoir,” Brewer said. “While we have a high degree of confidence that a solution can be engineered, there’s a lot of things that can still go wrong. We’re talking about the slab but there’s a bunch of other things, too. So that 10-year warranty is important.”
Workman said the contractor agreed to extend a warranty from two to 10 years. He also reported that the city received clarification from Citycounty Insurance Services that it would “not have any reservations in insuring this piece of infrastructure of the reservoir” if the repairs were completed.
Citycounty Insurance Services, which was formed by the League of Oregon Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties in 1981, provides risk management and other property- and employee-related benefits.
As for litigation, Brewer said that could be a possibility following the conclusion of the project.
“It may not be direct litigation with the city but there’s a lot of action between the contractor, their subcontractor and the supplier over whose fault this is,” Brewer said. “I think that if we get pulled into it, it will likely have to do with liquidated damages.”
Brewer stressed that the city is in a contractual relationship with HP Civil, not the subcontractor or the supplier, so “we shouldn’t be responsible for whatever contractual problems there are between HP Civil and the people who work for them.”
The discussion ended with the council unanimously approving a motion to proceed with the reservoir repair and direct Workman to execute an agreement with HP Civil.
