Closed session meetings held to discuss contractor's work
City does not feel standards were met
By Darleen Principe darleen@theacorn.com

The City Council has been meeting in closed session for almost two months regarding potential litigation by a contractor hired by the city last summer to complete a multimillion-dollar sanitation project on the west end of Simi Valley, city officials said this week.

According to recent closed session agendas: "The city believes the contractor is failing to perform the work in compliance with the plans and specifications. The contractor is claiming the plans and specifications are deficient, and (they have) stated that claims will be filed against the city for extra work."

City Manager Mike Sedell told the Simi Valley Acorn that the City Council and staff have been meeting with a lawyer to discuss the issue and will continue in closed session "as long as the legal matter is going on."

"There isn't a case yet," Sedell said. "It's a potential issue. Right now, everybody is going to start deciding what they're going to do."

In August 2007, Los Angelesbased contractor Colich Construction renovated sewer lines off Madera Road, Los Angeles Avenue and Lysander Avenue- a residential neighborhood northeast of where the two major streets intersect.

But city officials, asserting that the construction did not meet the standards laid out in the contract, refused to sign off on the project.

Sedell said details of the case will be made public after final action is taken by a court.