Delays and unplanned expenses may cost Kimball a rail spur. In an update during the regular Community Development Agency (CDA) meeting Mayor James Schnell gave a handful of citizens and the board cause for concern.

Citizen Bob Jenner has been committed to attending the CDA meetings, which immediately follow the city council meetings. He expressed his displeasure during and after the meeting.

“I’m extremely disappointed. In my opinion they dropped the ball in January. While we were promoting the bonds, they (the city) should have been finalizing contracts and readying them to be signed,” Jenner said.

Although the expected winter weather will delay construction until spring, that is not the main issue. Schnell received information from Union Pacific on Nov. 8 that the demolition of an old drainage tube and the addition of a new one will be the city’s responsibility.

Jenner said the mayor and the council should have been involved much sooner. The project rested primarily on one person’s shoulders until around September. He suggested the city could have made sure the project was ready to go upon approval and had attorneys looking at the design ahead of time.

“I guess I would’ve wanted to know more about the logistics,” Jenner said, “For something that big, I would have had the legal department on board sooner.”

The part of the design that covered the bridge just got overlooked, according to Schnell. The demolition alone could cost the city somewhere between $300,000 and $350,000 beyond what was budgeted for the project.

“How is that going to happen?” council member Kim Christensen asked.

Offering the littlest hope, Schnell replied, “We hope they see the light, that this (set-back) stops the project. It’s their faulty design to begin with.”

Mike Larson of Wilson and Company met with Schnell and city clerk, Pam Richter. Together with Larson, they toured the site. The modifications are projected to cost an extra $600,000-$700,000 that was not included in the original bid and legally cannot be added as a change to the work order.

According to Schnell the project will have to be rebid in February, which would still allow enough time to begin construction in the spring.

Looking around the room and seeing no happy faces, council member Kim Baliman could say only, “Wow.”

“The concern would be that the cost of materials would go up before we rebid,” Christensen said.

“It’s something that can’t be redone with local resources?” Baliman asked.

Schnell said that the company demolishing and rebuilding the bridge would have to be approved by Union Pacific. He added that this was not the kind of update anyone wanted to hear, and he didn’t like it either.

Shocked, the council and the few citizens at the meeting, sat stunned.  Jenner voiced his concern that the rail spur project is dead. He suggested the damage could have been minimized earlier in the project, that problems would have been easier managed.

“The one thing they should have had was a contract with Castronics. Everything else could have fallen apart and been forgivable, but still, without that contract they have nothing,” Jenner said.

Schnell said the project will continue, it is just a matter of timing for the construction. That would not begin until spring anyway as it is more difficult as well as expensive to build at this time of the year.

The need to rebid, Schnell said, is to give all bidders an equal playing field since that drainage tube was not part of the initial bid. The percentage of the increase is enough that if the modification were added as a change of work order the city would open themselves up to lawsuits from bidders.

He added that the need for more drainage should have been addressed between Nebraska Department of Roads and Union Pacific when the bypass went up, but because it wasn’t caught in their design, it has been passed on to the city with the construction of the spur.

The city maintains contact with Nebraska Department of Economic Development regarding the Memorandum of Understanding(MOU). The MOU is the agreement between all the parties involved, one of which is Castronics.

Castronics’ new building is up and ready for the 30 new employees they plan to hire by Dec. 10 Schnell said, and the utilities are in place.

“Castronics is doing their part too, they are staying in contact with the state, and staying on top of this,” Schnell added, “It is now a spring project. It’s a good thing we found this legality now, so there won’t be lawsuits later,” Schnell said.