The consulting firm that’s managing the months delayed downtown Pullman reconstruction project wants taxpayers to fund their cost overruns.
Welch Comer has been hired by the City of Pullman to manage the project. Their most recent contract with the city was worth just over 1 million dollars to oversee the construction this year. Welch Comer is now asking Pullman City Council for another roughly 200,000 dollars to pay for their extra costs managing the project.
The downtown reconstruction has been delayed several times. Main Street was closed to traffic starting in April so crews could rebuild the underground utilities, repave Main and install new sidewalks. Main was initially scheduled to be open to traffic in mid-October but traffic didn’t return downtown until mid-November. The entire project now won’t be complete until early next year.
Welch Comer’s request for more money includes a list of work they conducted that was outside of their contract. The consultants say they engaged in public outreach including social media videos that weren’t funded in the deal. They had to redesign the work for the Pine Street Plaza after their controversial plan for a new Downtown Walk of Fame monument in the pedestrian park was scrapped by council. Welch Comer notes that the excessive contaminated soil under Main also led to their cost overruns. A new construction snafu has also come to light in the Welch Comer request. The concrete that was brought to the site routinely didn’t meet specifications for several weeks.
If council agrees to pay Welch Comer’s cost overruns the money would come from city utility and stormwater fees, transportation funds and Whitman County economic development dollars.
Welch Comer’s issues managing the project date back to last year when they assured Pullman City Council that the work would only take four months. The project didn’t move forward until after the city moved away from Welch Comer’s advice and extended the construction timeline after no contractors bid on the work.
Pullman City Councilmembers are set to consider paying for Welch Comer’s additional costs during their meeting Tuesday night. The item is in the consent agenda which means it is considered routine in nature and will only be discussed by council if a member asks for further discussion. Tuesday night’s Pullman City Council meeting starts at 7:00 in city hall.
The City of Pullman is using 9 million dollars in federal COVID relief funds to pay for most of the roughly 12 million dollar infrastructure project. The downtown rebuild has consistently run overbudget since it was first considered. Major portions of the plan had to be eliminated and the construction contract with Apollo Inc. was more expensive than the city’s initial budget. councilmembers have already agreed to pay for Apollo’s first request for more money when the project began running weeks behind schedule.