Jackson city officials say a $590,000 payment to Superior Asphalt will help get a poorly managed, problematic contract behind them.
Jackson’s one-percent oversight commission recently approved paying Superior Asphalt $590,000 as a final closeout on a $4.7 million street repaving project.
The allocation will serve as part of the contractor’s final $1.2 million payment and help cover cost overruns, said Public Works Director Robert Miller.
City Officials previously expected the firm to face hundreds of thousands of dollars in late fees, for not wrapping up the work on schedule.
Work wrapped up recently and close-out documents were delivered to the city for review.
In July, the Sun estimated that Superior had accumulated anywhere from $106,500 to $204,500, based on the contract’s start date and whether weekends were included among the contract’s 240 work days.
Miller, though, said management issues coupled with weather delays were to blame for the late finish, not Superior.
“We thought they would be charged substantially, but after a review of the documents, we had not justified liquidated damages,” he said.
Among problems, an additional street was added to the contract after work got under way. The project also was not properly scoped out, a factor that also led to the delay, Miller explained.
Work included paving seven major city streets, including Ridgewood Road and Briarwood Drive, both on the Northside. The project also called for bringing sidewalks into compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act standards.
“This is not one that I like at all,” he said. “It’s a mess I inherited and I’m bringing it to a close.”
Superior was hired by the Jackson City Council in September 2016, under then Mayor Tony Yarber. Yarber was replaced the following summer by the current mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba. Miller joined the administration as public works director in October 2017.
After some discussion, Miller’s request was approved by the commission on a 5-0-1 vote. Voting in favor of the measure were Commissioners Duane O’Neill, Ted Duckworth, Beverly Hogan, Robert Blaine and Carrie Johnson. Commissioner Pete Perry abstained.
The commission oversees how Jackson spends revenues from a special one-percent infrastructure sales tax.
Members at the November meeting were particularly concerned with the cost overruns.
“We said we would do this, understanding that the payment needed to be made, but at the same time, we need to be better apprised of these things and have a better handle on what the contractors are doing,” O’Neill said. “When there are overruns, we need to know about them at that time and not just get a bill later.”
O’Neill doesn’t blame Miller and agreed that the public works director inherited the project.
The project was initially managed by IMS Engineers, the city’s previous one-percent program manager.
The firm was brought on in 2015, also under Yarber, to help implement projects approved by the commission.
The $840,000 contract was for one year and gave the city the option to extend the agreement for two one-year periods. Neither the commission nor the council approved extending it.
The repaving contract was problematic from the beginning. Despite awarding the contract in September, a notice to proceed was not issued until November. After several missed cues, the project got under way in January 2017, after Yarber threatened to cancel the contract.
Ridgewood was to be one of the first streets milled and overlaid, but the street was pushed back because of delays from one of Superior’s subcontractors.
And while there were some weather delays with the project, the Sun reported in 2017 that Superior and its subcontractors had been no-shows on the streets, despite hot, dry weather – conditions ideal for paving.
Safety issues were also apparent along Briarwood and Ridgewood. On Briarwood, Superior was expected to repave the street from the I-55 North frontage Road to North State Street.
In 2017, unfinished work on Briarwood created a hazard for motorists, who had to come to a near stop before driving over the spot where milling ended near the Chile’s restaurant.
Milling occurs when the old layers of asphalt are removed so new layers can be added.
And in May 2018, Jackson Academy senior Frances Anne Fortner was killed when she hit an unsecured manhole cover along Ridgewood. The incident occurred near Venetian Way, within the footprint of the project.
Fortner’s parents recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Superior, IMS and the city in Hinds County Circuit Court.
Superior is owned by Yates Construction. Officials at Yates’ corporate office couldn’t be reached for comment.
