Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Public Works

 

TO:

David L. Corliss, City Manager

FROM:

Charles F. Soules, Director of Public Works

CC:

Mark Thiel, David Cronin

DATE:

March 9, 2015

RE:

Rock Chalk Park Infrastructure Batch Tickets

 

Based on questions with respect to the Rock Chalk Park Audit, the Engineering Staff has reviewed all the batch tickets for the infrastructure project. These tickets are reviewed in the field by the inspector when the concrete arrives on site but as a general practice are not reviewed after that.

 

Batch tickets are material delivery tickets that include information about the concrete that our inspectors use in the field to verify that the concrete meets city specifications.  They include the mix designation/specification, the slump, amount of water, the time the truck was loaded, any admixtures, volume of concrete in the truck in cubic yards (CY),and  the cumulative volume of concrete (CY) delivered per order.

 

The batch tickets arrive on the truck and are reviewed by the inspector to ensure the correct mix design and material is being installed. The driver keeps the individual batch tickets and the contractor collected and provided tickets in 2 lump deliveries to the Public Works Department.

 

The city only pays for materials (concrete) measured and installed to City specifications.  We do not pay from batch tickets, although it does provide a quantity of concrete delivered to the site.  The city measures the street (SY), sidewalks (SY), parking lot (SY), curb and gutter (LF) and access ramps (Each) and also verifies the thickness of the various infrastructure improvements and only pays for quantities installed.

 

Only tickets for the infrastructure have been included within the total amount of concrete delivered to the site.  Batch tickets for footings, walls, foundations or other work have been excluded.

 

The attached spreadsheet (Rock Chalk Park Concrete) shows that the plan/estimated quantity of concrete in cubic yards was 17,471 CY in the Development Agreement.

 

The final measured quantity of concrete that was completed and installed to city specifications is 15,689 CY.

 

The batch tickets for infrastructure indicate that 16,469 CY of KCMMB concrete was delivered to the site.

 

This indicates that more concrete was delivered to the site than the City accepted and paid for.

 

The difference between what the delivery tickets show, 16,469 CY, and what the city is paying for, 15,689 CY, is 780 CY. Of this approximately 173 CY was used in areas that were repaired and replaced. The remainder can be attributed to a number of things including: 1) the contractor over estimated how much concrete was needed for a pour or rounded the amount up to ensure that they would not be short, 2) at the end of placing concrete there is usually an amount of concrete that is cut off before the next /adjacent pour to provide a clean edge to begin the next placement of concrete, 3) the contractor “poured through”  island areas for paving efficiency and later came back and removed the concrete to install the islands and there is an amount of waste. 

 

Staff has recently tabulated the batch tickets.  The last ticket of the order/pour contains a cumulative total of concrete delivered to the site per that order. Attached are tables, KCMMB Tickets and Non-Infrastructure Tickets that provide the last ticket of the order/pour, date, location and amount delivered. The City has batch tickets beginning from September 2013 through May 2014. Attached are scanned copies of the last ticket of the order/pour for the batch tickets in City possession.  (Scanned KCMMB Tickets and Non-Infrastructure Tickets).

 

In total the City has 1773 batch tickets. Of those, there are 1347 batch tickets that were used for infrastructure. These batch tickets are for concrete with   the correct mix design designation (KCMMB) and account for 16,469CY delivered to the site.

 

Additionally, the contractor provided the City with 426 batch tickets which were for improvements other than related to the infrastructure. These 426 tickets have not been included in the infrastructure concrete quantity and are not being paid for. Included with these tickets are approximately 230 CY for the KU access road on the west side of the stadium  (3/17/14)  and   20 CY for the Rec path (5/2/14) that did not meet specification and again are not included in the total infrastructure concrete and is not being paid for.

 

The City only pays for concrete that has been measured and installed to specification. The City has an inspector on the job watching and verifying the construction as it progresses. When the construction is complete, the improvements are measured again. The City also took  cores to verify the thicknesses of various pavements. The additional 426 batch tickets that were provided by the contractor for concrete deliveries other than for infrastructure does not affect what is recommended for acceptance and have not been included in the infrastructure totals and are not being paid for.

 

In the 2014 January/February infrastructure report it is stated that no infrastructure work occurred in January due to cold weather. Some infrastructure work was completed in February and is later detailed in the report (479 SY of concrete parking were completed in February). While we do have the additional batch tickets for January 2014, none of the batch tickets are for infrastructure work and are not being paid.

 

On January 28, 2015, staff provided the batch tickets readily on hand to the auditor. We did not edit or filter out batch tickets not related to the infrastructure. The auditor indicates that he reviewed 481 batch tickets.

 

The audit report included several batch tickets for January and 20 deliveries for other items such as footings and foundations. While we do have the batch tickets described, these batch tickets should not have been included in any quantities for infrastructure.

Several batch tickets for water and sewer were also included in the audit. These batch tickets were for flowable fill,  thrust blocks (kickers), manhole inverts, and pipe collars, which also should not have been included in the quantities for infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, curbs, ramps, and parking).

 

Going ahead, staff will be developing a procedure to properly account for batch tickets on all future projects. This will include collecting all batch tickets, categorizing and tabulating, scanning and developing a report for projects. While the City does not pay from the Batch Tickets, it is another way to ensure that an appropriate amount of material has been delivered to the project.

 

Please let me know if additional is needed.