All wet on this one

The Windham Town Council was right to stand up to the Portland Water District during last week’s meeting when the district asked the town to pay for cost overruns with the South Windham sewer project.

In particular, Councilor Elizabeth Wisecup was right to point to a signed contract based on district projections for the sewer project and how it was wrong for the district to stick the town with a $107,000 bill stemming from items that could have been budgeted had project designers been more realistic in their estimation. Windham agreed to pay $2 million toward the project, it shouldn’t have to pay any more.

“It’s not fair to do business this way,” Wisecup said to Ron Miller, general manager of the water district.

Windham, Gorham and the Maine Correctional Center entered into an agreement with the water district last year to extend a public sewer line to South Windham, benefiting the many existing residents, planned housing developments and expanding businesses in the area. The district, which is overseeing the project, said the total cost would be $7.5 million, which would be shared among Windham and Gorham taxpayers, the prison and water district ratepayers. Because of cost overruns, however, the figure is now $7.9 million and won’t be finalized until spring when the project is complete, meaning there could be more expenses incurred.

Disagreeing with Wisecup, project manager Jay Hewitt said the Maine Department of Environmental Protection told them in a “sheepish letter” after the contract with Windham had been signed that the project required a more costly permitting process. Other cost overruns included additional paving projects and overtime pay for workers.

Clearly, Windham taxpayers should not pay for others’ mistakes.

During last week’s meeting, Council Chairman John MacKinnon asked what would happen if Windham didn’t pay.

“Hopefully, it won’t come to that,” Miller replied ominously.

Miller’s words point to the likelihood of a lawsuit. Intimidation is obviously a tactic used by district execs, and Windham leaders need to prepare should Miller make good on his threats.

But, to quote Miller again, “hopefully, it doesn’t come to that,” and the water district comes to its senses and takes responsibility for the project’s overruns. Change orders for most projects require approval. If approval isn’t sought or granted, the contractor usually ends up eating the bill. This should be no different.

The water district can be known to play hardball with communities in the Lakes Region. Standish has had a love-hate relationship with the district climaxing several years ago with the town’s refusal to give up the long-held boat ramp in Sebago Lake. Bad blood still remains, and if Miller remains stubborn in this case, it could bring the district more bad blood from residents in Windham and Gorham, which would also have to fork over additional funds.

Thankfully, in this case, standing up to the district and rejecting its demand for payment for mistakes it has made will be easy for Windham leaders since there’s a signed contract and no approved change orders, which should count for something, if not everything, in this matter.

-John Balentine, editor