Pasco to pay $145,000 extra for already-built police station

The city of Pasco will pay $145,000 to settle a lawsuit connected to the delay-plagued police station.

The city hired Total Site Services Inc. to construct the $7.1 million building in 2015. It was supposed to take 320 days to build, and was paid for by public safety sales tax money.

It took more than 600 days, TSS said in court documents.

TSS blamed the delays on $1 million in change orders from city officials, too many decision makers, poor construction plans and slow approvals.

Court documents show the city agreed to pay for more than 100 extra days of construction. TSS said it was owed another $210,000 for about 100 more work days.

It sued the city in February in Franklin County for unspecified damages and legal fees.

The city countersued, alleging TSS breached its contract for building the station, called the Police Community Services Building. The case was set to go to trial in January 2020.

Pasco City Council must approve the settlement, which includes no admission of fault by either party.

See the light?

TSS highlighted delays getting a lighting system approved as an example of how the project fell so far behind schedule.

The company said in court documents that it took more than a year to sort out questions about the lighting package.

According to TSS, it first inquired about lighting on May 11, 2015, before the city selected it to build the project.

The lighting package wasn’t approved until April 2016. The lighting equipment arrived about three months after that.

Settling the lighting question took more than a year, TSS said. That prevented it from proceeding with other steps that don’t occur until lights are installed.

“TSS could not complete our electrical rough-in and drywall work until the lights came in,” it said.

TSS said the project was also slowed by delays getting approval for routine items such as cabinets and doors.

Failed inspection

TSS wrote to the city Dec. 6, 2016, after the project failed its final inspection with 47 violations, holding up the building’s certificate of occupancy.

In the letter, TSS said the city unfairly blamed it for the delays in a Nov. 25, 2016 article in the Tri-City Herald. It said it was working to resolve the violations, but that 19 were outside the scope of its contract.

The company said poor construction documents and too many managers affected its ability to work in a timely fashion.

TSS said the designer, architect, city and police department gave conflicting directions, which TSS tried to sort through, “but it has cost us all time and money,” it said.

TSS specifically mentioned tensions between the designer and architect, who weren’t defendants in the lawsuit.

The city said it was not liable and responsible for the issues TSS said it encountered as a result of incomplete and defective plans.

The settlement is on the city council’s agenda for final approval Monday. The council meets at 7 p.m. at city hall.

This story was originally published June 29, 2019 at 1:36 PM.