Ventura Reservoir Renovation Is Behind Schedule, Over Budget

Ventura public works officials are confident that they will have enough water to supply residents though a multimillion-dollar renovation to the city’s aging reservoir is over budget and behind schedule.

Plans to upgrade the city’s 18-million-gallon tank for $3.7 million fell behind when the contractor was delayed by what he said were inaccurate estimates of the amount of work that was needed.

Derek G. Jorgensen, president of Mitchell Pacific Construction of Palm Springs, agreed to divide the huge reservoir into two 9-million-gallon tanks, open one of the tanks by May 1, and perform other improvements by July.

But Jorgensen complained in an April letter that he was falling behind schedule because of miscalculations in the city engineer’s project estimate.

“Because of their actions, we expect a loss on the job of between $200,000 to $300,000, and of course the loss of all our overhead and profit of $300,000,” Jorgensen wrote.

The contractor already has received five change orders to the original contract that increased the $3.7-million project to nearly $4 million, said Mark D. Watkins, a senior civil engineer for the city of Ventura.

Jorgensen could not be reached to discuss the contract. But Jeff Taylor, a consultant to Jorgensen, said last week that the issue probably would end up in court.

Watkins said work on the site was proceeding, and that city officials would work with Jorgensen to reach an agreement.

“They’re back on track and progress is good,” Watkins said. “At this point, we’ve agreed to sit down with the contractor and try to go through all this again.”

The reservoir supplies water to tens of thousands of West Ventura residents, Watkins said. Public works officials have made adjustments to the system to make up for any water shortage that occurs during peak summer months, he said.