Othello City Council wrangles with well costs

OTHELLO — Concern over increased costs on the re-drilling work for the city’s No. 3 well led the Othello City Council on Monday to reject a revised contract.

Engineering firm Varela & Associates were seeking an additional $125,650 to cover increased engineering and design costs, as well as another $97,000 for Aspect Consulting, a firm which specializes in water and environmental services.

With the $47,000 Othello has already paid to Varela & Associates, that brings the total design costs on the $1.8 million project to $270,000.

“There seems to be some overlap between Varela and Aspect,” said Council Member John Lallas. “I don’t see what it is that you are doing that’s going to cost $270,000 that’s going to be of benefit to the project.”

Jesse Cowger, the president of Varela and Associates, told the city council that the revised costs include a number of things — like a consulting archeologist — that were not covered in the initial engineering plan.

“These tasks weren’t included in the original,” Cowger said.

The council rejected, in 4-3 vote, the $97,000 change order to the contract with Aspect, while the measure to pay Varela & Associates the additional $125,000 failed to even get a motion for consideration.

The City of Othello discovered that Well No. 3 needed to be redialed following the failure of the pump, which broke down because the original well was crooked. The city is applying for a $1.7 million rural development loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to pay for the project.

As an example of unexpected costs, Cowger said the archeologist was hired at the request of the Colville Tribe, and because tribal input is essential to USDA’s loan approval process.

“The tribe wanted a cultural expert who might see artifacts of cultural significance” from the drill hole, Cowger said.

“We are providing the level of expertise the city needs,” he added.

Lallas said he expected that the original $47,000 for engineering work would have covered all engineering and design costs.

Current estimates put the actual construction work, handled by Schneider Water Services, at around $980,000, with pump house medications at $170,000, revised engineering and design at $270,000, with $300,000 set aside for emergencies or cost overruns.

“I’m not questioning the amount we are paying to Schneider, or modifications to the pump house,” Lallas said. “Even the $300,000 contingency is much higher than what we allow in the private sector, which is 10 percent.”

Lallas just wanted a proper accounting of everything that went into the revised $270,000 engineering and design estimate, and why it had grown so much.

“We’re under budget right now,” Cowger said. “When you drill the well, you don’t know how it will perform.”

Mayor Shawn Logan asked Cowger to provide a more complete breakdown and reason for the costs to the subcommittee overseeing the well project, so that the council could revisit the contract extensions at its next meeting.

“You know we’ve got to go forward with this project,” Logan said. “Have the details of the contract and show what needs to be done to get this finished, and provide those 2-3 days in advance of the committee meeting so they can read it.”

Schneider Water Services has started gathering equipment at Well No. 3, and if everything goes as planned, anticipates the city’s No. 3 well will be redrilled by the end of September or early October.