November 10, 2016 – A change in city managers in June 2016 and a “good-faith mistake” in contract wording briefly postponed the city’s payment of final fees to its architect for the new community center.
The issue was cleared up Monday, when a representative of SFS Architecture came to city council to explain how the contract was structured. The council voted to approve payment of $70,837 to the firm after hearing City Attorney John McClelland attribute the confusion to contract language.
“Unfortunately, I think there was a good-faith mistake in the language when the contract was made,” McClelland said. “I think that was an honest mistake and there was nothing devious in that.”
Architect Kerry Newman explained that the contract, originally negotiated with then-City Manager David Haugland and McClelland, was divided in two parts. One covered the design fee before the public approved funding for the project, while the second applied to the firm’s work once actual plans were drawn.
Read the rest of this story in the Friday, November 11 issue of the Standard