Monticello seeks refund on repair work

City says wrong meters used, job left unfinished on water-system updates

Monticello leaders have said they plan to ask a company to return millions of dollars paid to update the city's water system after work was found to be shoddy and incomplete.

Newly elected Monticello Mayor Zack Tucker said the city will enter into mediation with Illinois-based Siemens USA to try to recover as much of the money as possible, though a date has not been set for the talks.

The city paid Siemens $7 million as part of a contract last year, which included the installation of about 4,000 new water meters that were supposed to be manufactured by a specific company, Tucker said. Instead, Siemens purchased another brand of meters without asking for approval, the mayor said.

The meters have had a failure rate of about 40 percent so far, city officials said. Problems include inaccurate water-usage measurements and customer billing errors. In addition, the contract included repairing and replacing waterlines beneath the city, but that work was never completed, Tucker said.

Messages left for Siemens' attorney Steven Shamash were not returned.

"Siemens moved forward with installing the water meters without any communication from the city, and the contract specifically states what brand of meters we wanted to install. That brand was not installed," Tucker said.

Monticello attorney Cliff Gibson, who has been hired to represent the city during the mediation process, said he asked Siemens representatives why they purchased the wrong type of water meters but received no reply.

Similarly, Gibson said the company has not explained why it did not finish the work it was contracted to do for the city.

Gibson said the city erred when it paid Siemens the $7 million before the company completed the job, adding that it happened "out of mass confusion" after then-Mayor Allen Maxwell died.

Tucker said he hopes his city can recover most of the money it paid to Siemens.

"You are talking about a lot of taxpayer funds on the line here," Tucker said. "There are a lot of unanswered questions."

In all, $10 million was allocated for the water project through a bond initiative. Tucker said the work was needed because the city's water infrastructure is outdated.

After mediation with Siemens, the mayor said the next step will be to find another company to step in and finish the job.

Monticello resident Randy Thompson said he and others in town feel that Siemens is "taking advantage of a small town."

He also criticized the city for paying the company before the work was completed.

"I'd never pay someone for fixing my car until I knew it was fixed right," Thompson said.

State Desk on 01/26/2015

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