Bluebird costs fly even higher

The city manager says post-landslide work to stabilize canyon will cost at least $1 million more than first estimated.The cost of emergency repairs to stabilize Bluebird Canyon before the winter rainy season is rising, and those in charge of the project still don’t know when it will be completed or what the final cost will be.

Robert Burnham, community recovery coordinator, told the City Council on Dec. 6 that he has been wrong every time he answered the question of when Phase I will be completed.

“It is constantly escalating,” Burnham said of the project to shore up the landslide zone to ensure that rains will not result in further sliding.

The work taking longer than expected means it will cost more, City Manager Frank said.

He upped his earlier $7 million estimate for work through January to a possible $8 to $9 million.

“We are looking at $16 million, maybe $17 million for the total job,” Frank said. “We will come back in the second meeting in January or the first one in February with a budget adjustment and a FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] report.”

The city hopes to have a FEMA response in January. The agency reversed its earlier decision to reject the city’s landslide disaster claim.

“We did not have the luxury of planning, because we began work immediately,” Burnham said.

Basing payments to contractors on a time-and-materials basis has saved the city money, according to Burnham. And since the contractors have not built in contingency funds for their services, that also represents a saving for the city, he said.

-- Barbara Diamond