By ROBIN SHEPARD
Times Correspondent
The road construction project on East Fruitland Avenue, between Winton Way and Shaffer Road, will be redesigned to eliminate traffic roundabouts and “choker islands” following a three-hour Atwater City Council meeting Monday in which 25 affected property owners spoke about the project’s over-engineered, high price tag improvements.
Voting unanimously, the City Council agreed to continue current road construction while the project is reengineered, about a three-week process at an estimated cost of up to $450,000. Gone from the plans are three roundabouts and a dozen choker islands in a stretch of rural road less than two miles long.
For the property owners, it was a case of pleading common sense and dollars and cents. For the current City Council, it was a case of, in Councilman John Cale’s words, “Tonight, I’m realizing that some of the things that I was told were not true.”
Councilwoman Kalisa Rochester’s successful motion included a provision that the city investigate potential breach of contract by city engineering firm VH Design Group, Inc./VVH Consulting Engineers for not conducting required in-person meetings with area residents regarding the project.
VVH principal owner Michael Hayes is also the city’s contract engineer, and his company entered into the $6.62 million Fruitland Avenue Reconstruction Project agreement with the City in 2016. Both Hayes and his engineering design company are also named as defendants in a lawsuit against the city recently brought by local developer Brad Kessler.
After describing the contractual language with Hayes on VVH’s public outreach plan to Fruitland Avenue residents, Rochester asked, “Do you have any of the notes available for the deliverables stated in the contract?”
Hayes admitted, “The City requested for us not to perform that portion of the contract.”
That drew audible gasps from the audience as this apparently was a previously undisclosed fact. Hayes said this allegedly occurred in 2016.
“We were directed to have a town hall meeting instead,” Hayes said.
Cale asked for the identity of the city staff member who gave VVH that direction. Hayes replied that it was the contract administrator for the city, the Community Development Director, who is currently Greg Thompson.
Thompson is also named as a defendant in the Kessler lawsuit.
The City’s breach of contract investigation into VVH stems from Rochester’s finding that the changes to the public outreach sections of the contract were not brought back to the City Council for approval.
“In 2016, evidently a decision was made by the city to amend a contract related to public outreach, however, there is no amendment to the contract in writing.
“If we are going to amend the contract,” Rochester said, “I would assume that if it’s not in writing then it didn’t happen.”
Further discussion also revealed that some councilmembers were told by city staff that the project design could not be changed due to the nature of the funding. Cale, in particular, was visibly perturbed, inquiring, “Does any of our [funding] resources require traffic calming measures?”
After City Manager Chris Hoem replied “not necessarily,” Cale said “OK. I was told that. I was absolutely told that.”
Cale, who represents the Fruitland Avenue area as part of District 1, also said he was informed that the homeowners in the neighborhoods served by East Fruitland Avenue were notified of the road project and were given opportunity to express their concerns. He said that was what he repeated to those who asked him about it.
“I’m really disappointed,” he said. “I was also told that the calming measures were part of the money we were getting. If we don’t have the calming measures we’re going to lose part of that money. Apparently, that’s not true.”
Lack of communication between the city, the city’s engineering firm, and Fruitland Avenue residents was a common theme during public comments, with several homeowners stating their complete ignorance of the facts of the road reconstruction project.
Rochester noted that the city “should be better at involving our residents in decision-making processes that directly impact them”
Mayor Mike Nelson, also a Kessler lawsuit defendant, said he believes “we were sold a bill of goods along this whole process. I was also told that if we stop the project, we lose the funding.”
Fruitland Avenue resident Roger Wood, whose numerous appearances before the City Council in opposition to the project, commented that the “three traffic circles and 12 traffic calming features have been opposed by the residents since the three meetings in May of 2022.”
Wood further claimed that city staff “repeatedly emphasized that the funding for the project was complex and could not be changed. This statement acted to curtail any residents’ comments.”
He charged staff with purposefully delaying council discussion of the project during meetings in January and February. “The staff has shown that they will do anything to keep from changing this excessively expensive project.”
Wood asserted that as the City collected millions of dollars from various federal, state, and local sources, including COVID-related relief funds known as The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), the city was determined to spend those funds.
“Money was available, and VVH came up with a way to spend it,” Wood said. “I don’t know how else you can figure a design like that. It’s impossible to explain logically.”
Fruitland Avenue homeowner Adam Reed, who also spoke during Monday’s meeting and who is a former VVH employee, told the Times “You can’t not see that a significant amount of money was pushed toward VVH.
“From January 21, 2024 until this council meeting, the city cut $1.25 million to VVH, the bulk of which was for professional services,” Reed said.
Reed also claims he provided a warning to the council members with whom he has spoken.
“Staff has led you down that road,” Reed said he told council members. “You guys are caught up in the middle because staff has lied to you.”
In the wake of the council decision to redesign the Fruitland Avenue project and eliminate all traffic calming features, residents will be given a new road, as well as curbs, gutters, and sidewalks.
When work is completed, East Fruitland Avenue, in Wood’s words, will still be the city’s most expensive road.
“Think about it,” he said, “how often do the beneficiaries of a project ask to make it less expensive?”