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Sarasota News Leader December 7, 2012 Page 26 Boyle was soon acquired by AECOM, a Fortune 500 firm specializing in engineering design. In Sarasota, the problem was drilling a hole under Hudson Bayou for a 36-inch pipe large enough to convey millions of gallons of sewage per day to the Luke Wood Park Lift Station 87. The facility would use pumps to propel the sewage to the city's treatment plant more than a mile away on 12th Street. For that money Westra will reopen Osprey Avenue within 30 days and mothball its all-butfinished lift station. Meanwhile, Westra Construction was hired to build the actual pumping facility underground. That work has been done, but without the pipeline, it is useless. Worse, the micro-tunneling required closure of the northbound lane of Osprey Avenue, causing annoyance in the neighborhoods south of Mound Street, such as Avondale. er trucks to handle the additional water load caused by rainstorms. "If we do bring in additional trucks, we can put them in different areas so they won't impact the same areas with noise," he said. Of course, that will not solve the legal problems. Alan Tannenbaum, the city's special counsel for this case, said, "Westra is preparing a significant claim against the city." And AECOM, of course, believes it is blameless and will claim that in court. Tannenbaum Using what the city staff calls "outdated and is confident the city's case is strong, so the inaccurate survey data," the Boyle/AECOM city should be able to recoup from AECOM crew drilled a lateral hole that was insuffi- all the money to put everything back together. ciently deep under the waterway. The city lost In the meantime, old Lift Station 7 is still confidence in the company and declared it in "pushing the freight." Public Works Director default. A lawsuit and countersuit followed. Bill Hallisey says the city has mobilized pump- Some of the disturbance — halted projects, snarled traffic, defaulted contractors, lawsuits — was remedied Monday, Dec. 3, when the Sarasota City Commission approved a $750,000 change order to Westra's contract. For those whose leisure reading includes case studies of project management, Craig B. Smith's is unique. He is a consulting engineer with a global practice. His analysis of the manpower and material requirements to build the Great Pyramid of Khufu is dry (no pun intended) but fascinating reading. One surprise: No slaves were used. And no hieroglyphics indicate a contractor defaulted. % I am so incredibly pleased, with my beautiful smile and my comfortable and natural bite. - Barbara Lee For a complimentary consultation call 941.923.5406 | Christine Koval, D.M.D. | www.askdrkoval.com