City Commission assigns rights to YMCA for building deficiences

By Beverly Bryant/News Director

The Ponca City Board of Commissioners approved an assignment agreement Monday night with the Ponca City YMCA, assigning any claims the city may have against Lambert Construction Co. for damages caused by deficiencies in Lambert’s and its subcontractors’ work on the YMCA.

On April 23, 2007, Ponca City entered into an agreement with the YMCA for the development, management and operation of the Ponca City YMCA. Subsequently, the city entered a construction-management at-risk contract with Lamber in November 2008 for construction of the new center at Waverly and Grand.

After completion, the YMCA took possession and has managed and operated the facility under the terms of the operating agreemet.

Ponca City and the YMCA have suffered, and continue to suffer, damages caused by deficiencies in the contractor’s and subcontractors’ work on the project, the assignment agreement states.

The YMCA’s board of directors has authorized filing a suit to recover those damages. In this agreement, Ponca City assigns all of its rights to the performance of Lambert and its subcontractors under the original construction manager contract. All claims that Ponca City would have against Lambert are assigned to the YMCA.

City Attorney Michael R. Vanderburg said Monday night that several issues have been resolved with problems related to construction errors, but two issues remain unsettled at this time.

The two issues include electrical deficiencies in "Building A," a mechanical room west of the swimming pool area. The second issue is replacement of the various joints for the water distribution system, which are currently assembled with steel bolts and nuts. This will require complete replacement with stainless steel bolts and nuts.

Once these two issues are resolved, the balance of the funds recovered will be applied to the YMCA’s remaining damages, Vanderburg said. He said the YMCA’s operational expenses have been much larger than expected because of several construction areas, most of which have now been resolved.

Vanderburg said the YMCA’s losses are about $60,000 in unexpectedly high utilities because of the construction errors. Ponca City’s estimated losses are less than $5,000, he said.

YMCA Executive Director Shane Harland said Tuesday morning there are some bolts in the pump room for the pool area that need to be replaced.

"It’s a minor issue. They were starting to rust," Harland said.

He added that one electrical breaker cut-off in "Building A" is not working.

"We have to go to the main breaker to shut it off, so that will need to be corrected," Harland said.