AUBURN - After rifling through nearly 80 pages of invoices and project summaries, city councilors were no closer to deciding whether to spend tens of thousands of extra dollars on a project to expand the landfill.

The council tabled a resolution during its meeting Tuesday that would have authorized a $60,000 change order for the expansion. This resolution was originally tabled last month, and it is not expected to come before council again until the first full week in January.

The change order is for the engineering costs associated with a project to add a new cell to the city landfill. The original contract stated that the city would pay the firm Barton & Loguidice no more than $486,000 for engineering services.

Paul Dudden, a principal at the firm, told the council that permitting problems, geologic work and other issues with the state Department of Environmental Conservation delayed the project and caused the increased costs. These issues, he said, were outside the original scope of the contract, and as such are owed $60,000 for services rendered, reduced from an original cost of $85,101.80.

Councilors William Graney and Matthew Smith questioned Dudden extensively over how the project went over budget and why they are just hearing about the increased costs now.

“If the reality was that we were this significantly off the projections, why wasn't this brought to us sooner,” Smith said.

Dudden responded by saying that, in his experience, people do not like being approached for every small change to a contract.

“Nobody likes dealing with the small things,” he said.

In reviewing the language in the contract, Smith wondered if the city is even liable for the extra costs.

“In my humble opinion, I think, according to this contract, all these things should have been accounted for by Barton & Loguidice.

While the overall expansion - a $6.5 million project - is $170,000 under budget, some councilors were hesitant to remove $60,000 if it is unnecessary.

“If we can save $60,000,” Smith said, “I want to save $60,000.”

Graney was unhappy that there was no oversight in this project to prevent this from happening.

“This is a $6 million project and we didn't have anyone watching this,” he said. “There's no checks and balances in this. I don't understand how you can have a $6 million project and no oversight.”

Smith and Graney requested Corporation Counsel John Rossi and City Manager Mark Palesh to review the contract in the coming weeks to see what encompassed the original scope of the project.

In other news:

* Council voted unanimously to allow Auburn homeowners or tenants who are behind on their water bills to request a due process hearing after they receive notification of their delinquent water payments.

Currently, residents that owe more than $20 dollars receive a first notice on the matter. If the bill is not paid in 30 days, they are given 10 more days to respond before the city shuts off the service.

The ordinance, effective immediately, will permit residents to submit in writing a request for a hearing with the city manager's office.

* The next council meeting is slated for 4 p.m. Dec. 23 at city hall, South Street.

Staff writer Alyssa Sunkin can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 239 or alyssa.sunkin@lee.net