Feb. 19—LAPEL — Officials with the town of Lapel are running out of patience with the company hired to upgrade the water system.
Atlas Excavating was awarded a $2.1 million contract in 2022 to replace old and undersized pipes.
The work was to have been completed by the end of 2022.
Robert Bellucci, engineer with Commonwealth Engineering, said Thursday that Atlas has completed the work already started, but the project is only 50% completed.
He said the first phase is substantially completed.
Bellucci said the town can move forward with Atlas completing the work or go in a different direction.
“We don’t want this project delayed any longer,” Chad Blake, council president said. “It would cost more to rebid.”
Blake said the town should seek legal action and Atlas should be penalized $1,000 per day until the project is completed.
“The project is two years behind schedule,” he said. “This is hurting our growth as a town.”
Bellucci said the town could negotiate a change order with Atlas to require them to dig trenches to replace the water lines instead of boring the lines.
“We have some estimates from other contractors,” Bellucci said. “The unknown is what is still in the ground.”
He said there are costs involved in rebidding the project and that the bids could come in higher or lower than what Atlas bid for the work.
The council voted 3-to-2 to move forward with Atlas Excavating, but to seek a change in how the work is completed.
Last year town officials met with Atlas Excavating to develop a new plan moving forward.
That plan included work in the area of Fifth and Walnut streets, an alley between Main and Woodward streets and finish along 14th and Erie streets.
The project is still within the budget approved by the Lapel Town Council in 2022, Bellucci said.
Thieneman Construction was awarded a contract of $1,992,000 for improvement work on the well and both water treatment and storage facilities.
The upgraded system will pull water from the two existing wells at the same time to be filtered together.
The plan includes upgrades to the filtration system and controls at the water treatment plant.
A new mixing system to improve water quality will be installed for the 200,000-gallon elevated storage tank and the 200,000-gallon ground storage facility.
Lapel received a $700,000 grant from the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs for all the water-related work, with the town providing $66,000 in required matching funds.
The town borrowed the remainder of the funding from the Indiana Revolving Loan Fund and reserves.
Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.
Signup bonus from
