Council approves paying more for plaza work

The Shawano Common Council approved amending an agreement March 9 with Strand Associates, the firm working to develop the downtown plaza, to pay an additional $55,500 for extra services rendered.

Strand sent an invoice to the city for $80,000 above and beyond the $199,400 the council agreed to in March 2021. The firm is doing design and engineering work for the plaza, which is set to break ground this spring and be ready for residential and visitor enjoyment in the fall. City Attorney Keith Steckbauer said that representatives of Strand told the city that the scope of work for the project turned out to be significantly greater than the firm had expected when it bid for the contract.

Steckbauer said that some of the items listed were already part of the contract, but there were enough items there to warrant the city paying about $55,500 more. He called it a reasonable compromise between the city and Strand.

“We basically went back and forth a little bit and, through the process, came to the suggestion of $42,000 for past work that was more than anticipated and then $13,500 for additional work that would be expected to be done,” Steckbauer said. “What we wanted to be able to do on that was that it’s a change order, but we wanted to, if we get to the point where we don’t think we don’t need to do those specific items (for the future), we can remove those.”

Steckbauer noted that, when the contract was established, the total cost of the project was about $1.4 million but has since swelled to $2.3 million.

“The scope was bigger, and they did more work,” Steckbauer said. “Looking at it, it’s (City Administrator) Eddie (Sheppard) and my position that this is a reasonable approach. We think it matches a good faith perspective of what they’ve done.”

Mayor Bruce Milavitz expressed appreciation that the city worked to bring the costs down to a manageable level and not just give the $80,000 invoice to the council for approval.

“You actually looked at the meat and potatoes of it,” Milavitz said. “We certainly have the A-team with them, and I’d like to be able to continue working with the A-team.”

lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com