Regarding the "had I known..." question, after the 12/12 meeting, Council required project updates from staff at each council meeting. We received two such reports prior to the 2/1 meeting that if anything gave positive spin to the status of the project. I recommend viewers watch the video of these meetings at the city wbesite and see for themselves - the preception is given that the project is on schedule and in fact will need less money as some contractor and COMCAST credits were due the project. I questioned staff about the validity of the construction credits on 1/19 and they have subsequently been found to be invalid. The published agenda for 2/1 cited the PHUD status report but no written staff report was included, no mention of the pipe order discrepanacies. I took the absence of a report to mean that the project was on track, just as the earlier staff reports had indicated. Yet the 2/6 staff report alludes to the troubling finding in EARLY January of pipe order discrepancies and this fact is not mentioned in a subsequent report at council on 1/19 or 2/1. No one from staff contacted me to indicate the extent of the problem that was revealed Monday evening, the night before the election. Staff communication of the problems associated with this project has been poor and a major limitation to the options available to Council. Had Council been provided information about this project earlier it woudl have been in a much better postion to negotiate with PHUD and the contractor and to fashion solutions that did not require the use of city funds.
Regarding the "had I known..." question, after the 12/12 meeting, Council required project updates from staff at each council meeting. We received two such reports prior to the 2/1 meeting that if anything gave positive spin to the status of the project. I recommend viewers watch the video of these meetings at the city wbesite and see for themselves - the preception is given that the project is on schedule and in fact will need less money as some contractor and COMCAST credits were due the project. I questioned staff about the validity of the construction credits on 1/19 and they have subsequently been found to be invalid. The published agenda for 2/1 cited the PHUD status report but no written staff report was included, no mention of the pipe order discrepanacies. I took the absence of a report to mean that the project was on track, just as the earlier staff reports had indicated. Yet the 2/6 staff report alludes to the troubling finding in EARLY January of pipe order discrepancies and this fact is not mentioned in a subsequent report at council on 1/19 or 2/1. No one from staff contacted me to indicate the extent of the problem that was revealed Monday evening, the night before the election. Staff communication of the problems associated with this project has been poor and a major limitation to the options available to Council. Had Council been provided information about this project earlier it woudl have been in a much better postion to negotiate with PHUD and the contractor and to fashion solutions that did not require the use of city funds.