The City and Urbacon Buildings Group Corp., the contractor hired to build city hall, are scheduled to participate in two days of voluntary mediation on September 20 and 21.
“The mediation process is an opportunity for collaborative and equitable negotiation, and is less costly than a court hearing,” said Scott Worsfold, deputy city solicitor. “In addition to a less confrontational approach to resolving legal disputes, voluntary mediation helps to strengthen stakeholder communications — a strategic direction contained in the city’s corporate strategic plan.”
The city expects the work of its contractors to be on time, complete and thorough. With the construction of city hall, the city’s position is Urbacon was unable to uphold these commitments after the city made reasonable concessions and agreed to reasonable time extensions.
To end the delays and complete the construction of city hall, the city terminated Urbacon’s contract in October 2008. Urbacon filed a $20-million, breach-of-contract lawsuit against the city, and the city filed a $5-million counterclaim. If the legal matters are not resolved through mediation, a trial on the issue of liability is scheduled to begin on January 21, 2013 and could run for three to four weeks.
