City Manager Matthews advised the City Council that the Takoma Park Library would be closed on Friday, May 6th due to construction-related activity that would impede access to the building.
As the City Manager indicated on April 25th, one of the impediments to completion of the project concerned the permanent power connection to the building. City Manager Matthews advised the City Council that PEPCO was close to completing the necessary overhead line work and would then proceed with the service line connection and transformer work. As indicated at the prior meeting, James F. Knott Construction Company estimated that it would need approximately four weeks to perform the remaining tasks to achieve the permanent power connection to the building. Based on the information available at this time, James F. Knott Construction Company would likely finish its work in mid- to late June.
City Manager Matthews informed the City Council that Councilmember Williams recently posed a number of questions to staff regarding the Community Center project. She stated that she would provide them with the answers to his questions via e-mail.
The City Manager reminded the City Council that the current contractual completion date was April 2nd. The City had previously agreed to provide James F. Knott Construction Company with a 30-day extension beyond this date prior to the assessment of any liquidated damages. Barring any agreement on the part of the City to extend the current contractual completion date, liquidated damages would begin to be assessed as of May 3rd. At this juncture, staff was not recommending any change in the contractual completion date. Should staff receive information that warranted a reassessment of this position, City Manager Matthews stated that she would advise the City Council accordingly.