An official at the engineering firm that designed McComb’s wastewater treatment facility said his company has cautioned city officials about possible higher costs on the project as a result of a contract with Jackson-based IMS Engineers but stressed the firm isn’t expecting an un-navigable problem.
Neel-Schaffer Environmental Engineer Manager Nathan Husman cited a professional engineering ethics code in refusing to specifically discuss the IMS contract with the Enterprise-Journal.
Husman said this week that he has talked with the city to ensure the duties ascribed to Neel-Schaffer — and consequently, its fees — would not differ as a result of the IMS contract.
The concerns from Neel-Schaffer reflect those voiced in a Aug. 11 memo from city attorney John H. “Bubber” White to the mayor’s office about possible problems with the contract, which the city has submitted to the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality for review.
In that memo, White wrote that several issues “must be resolved before the City executes the Contract.”
Those issues, White wrote, include:
• Language in the contract with IMS regarding facility plans and specifications that have already been submitted by Neel-Schaffer and approved through DEQ.
• The fees IMS will charge.
• A section prohibiting the city from complaining or suing IMS for cause.
• A section neglecting to mention the city administrator and public works director as authorized representatives of the city.
• Possible legal violations from awarding the operation of the facility post-construction to IMS without bidding.
White wrote in a letter to DEQ Construction Branch Chief Toney Cardwell the next day: “I am concerned that the proposed Contract furnished to the City of McComb City by Integrated Management Services for the City for the City to execute might affect the Cities’ (sic) loan of Thirty-five Million Dollars which has already been approved … I would appreciate DEQ’s input on this matter in that I do not want the City to do anything to void our loan from DEQ.”
Husman said that for Neel-Schaffer, the question was one of time commitment to satisfy supervisors.
“We have voiced some concern that should (the IMS contract) conflict with our agreement it may increase our costs in the project,” Husman said. “Our contract is based on an hourly rate with a not-to-exceed amount, so if we have to become more involved because there’s additional people to report to, then that could increase the cost to the city. … I don’t expect that would happen, but that’s a possibility.”
Other partners in the project have downplayed that possibility.
IMS officials, who did not return calls for this story, said during discussion at a recent board meeting they felt any issue of duplication of responsibilities had been resolved in a meeting with White. IMS officials said they disagreed with the need for the DEQ to review the contract.
DEQ Executive Director Trudy Fisher said Thursday after the project’s ground-breaking, that DEQ officials were similarly optimistic that the requested contract review would not find hurdles that would put the project in any danger.
The city has secured $34.5 million in state revolving loan funding from DEQ for the project.
Officials at the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors also confirmed this week that there are no records dating to Jan. 1, 2007, of any complaints regarding the wastewater treatment facility, the City of McComb, IMS Engineers or Neel-Schaffer.
Mayor Zach Patterson, meanwhile, has promised selectmen he will not sign any contract with IMS until the board has had the opportunity to review the details of any proposals.
Selectman Melvin Joe Johnson has been particularly vocal about the need for IMS’ oversight to prevent the “cost-creep” that has plagued the city’s sports park project.
Selectmen voted in July to grant Patterson authority to execute a contract with IMS.
Such contracts can be legalese and technical description-heavy: Neel-Schaffer’s contract with the city regarding the wastewater treatment facility is a several- hundred-page document with an equally thick stack of design drawings and schematics.
