Main Street bridge settlement reached

The final chapter of the Main Street bridge saga became public Tuesday afternoon when James Lemon, Hannibal city attorney, announced that a settlement has been reached in its lawsuit against Great River Engineering regarding the bridge.
“It feels pretty good,” said Lemon of securing a settlement. “It’s been a long process, but we’re very happy that they have made this settlement and that we can move on down the road now.”
Also applauding news of a settlement was Mayor Roy Hark.
“I’m just glad that we were able to get it behind us and that we can move forward. I’m glad that it’s over with,” he said.
Until contacted by the Courier-Post, Hark had not yet heard the news.
“I didn’t know he (Lemon) had the check in hand,” he said. “I knew he was working on it and trying to get a settlement done.”
The check the city received is for $375,000. The Courier-Post was only able to determine the dollar amount of the settlement through a Sunshine Law request made to the city.
According to Lemon, as part of the settlement the city has agreed to dismiss all claims against Great River Engineering, the bridge project’s design engineer. The city had initially accused Great River of malpractice, fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty.
“In terms of settlement, they have not admitted any liability or admitted there was any error,” said Lemon.
Chester Bross Construction Co., the project’s general contractor, was also named as a defendant in the lawsuit which was filed in August 2007. Bross, however, was later dropped from the legal action.
Lemon said the amount of the settlement is not far off what the city had sought.
“This is pretty close,” he said. “You figure in the time and expense, it’s probably not as much as we felt we were owed at one point and time, but it is very close. We feel it’s a fair settlement and we feel they did bargain in good faith.”
No firm decisions have been yet as to how the settlement will be used, according to Hark.
“We weren’t counting any chickens until the chickens had hatched,” said Hark.
The mayor indicated that the money’s use will be a topic of discussion when City Manager Jeff LaGarce returns from vacation.
A message seeking comment regarding the settlement was left at Great River’s Bowling Green office. It was not returned.
For months it has appeared that the lawsuit would be settled out of court, rather than go to trial. A trial date of May 18 was initially set.
In July, the city council considered and rejected a settlement offer from the engineering firm. A counteroffer was then made by the city. 
Replacement of the 120-foot span initially started in October 2004 and was to take 75 days, but delays kept it closed until Dec. 17, 2008.
The bridge, which was beset by construction problems, had to be reinforced to handle the load the city says it must be able to hold in that area. Also slowing progress on the bridge was last year’s flooding along Bear Creek, which at one point completely submerged the bridge.
While the bridge was reinforced before it opened to enable it to carry most vehicles, a weight limit of 24,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW) was put in place on the streets leading to and from the bridge in September 2008. The weight limit was deemed necessary to keep excessively heavy vehicles off of a culvert located on South Main Street near Washington and Jefferson streets.