Town pressing to close out ww plant project

Coulee Dam and its contractor on its new wastewater treatment facility are facing off through attorneys on who is at fault for numerous delays in the building of the multimillion-dollar plant.

The city council met in special session online Tuesday morning to decide how to respond to the contractor’s answer to a letter from City Attorney Michael Howe informing them of the city’s deadline of Oct. 1, after which the city would finish the work and adjust the bill.

Snohomish attorney Douglas Elston wrote back Sept. 27 on behalf of the contractor, McClure and Sons, Inc. saying the town’s position “entirely unreasonable and unwarranted.” He detailed what he said was the town’s late response to requests for information, for which his client is entitled to charge 12% interest.

Howe told the council Tuesday that Elston has represented the same client in several similar matters.

The details center mostly around finishing some painting and coating in the plant and on a couple valves the city says were installed incorrectly, possibly leading to failure later.

Elston wrote that “Mr. McClure” … “at the aged of 70” could “open both valves without any difficulty” during a recent site visit. That makes issue moot, he said.

The council voted Tuesday that Howe should respond, as should the town’s engineer with a seven-day notice that the project was about to be closed out and incomplete.

Howe said the town should expect the contractor to get a court injunction against that action.