Lebanon — The City Council voted unanimously to table a $1.7 million request for completion of Lebanon’s Route 120 sewer improvement project after voicing concerns about whether the city should be on the hook for the project’s cost overruns.

“I’m not in favor of voting for this until we have explored negotiation, arbitration, until we’ve seen a item-by-item review of this,” Councilor Bill Finn said. “I think there’s too many things that I don’t understand.”

The sewer project was designed to replace about 1.4 miles of sewer lines from Etna Road down Route 120, past Little Heater Road and under Interstate 89.

The Council first approved the project for $2.1 million in 2012, but later appropriations brought the total project’s costs to $4.75 million.

If approved, the project bill will be paid by the city’s sewer ratepayers, and won’t be added to the municipal tax rate. Lebanon is expected to enter into a long-term loan agreement to pay off the debt, however.

Public Works Director Michael Lavalla said additional money is needed because crews ran into unexpected rocks while drilling beneath the highway, causing them to switch methods and slowing their progress. Initially, he said, Kingsbury Companies LLC planned on spending 100 hours addressing the rocks, but now are in the high 500-hour range.

Lavalla said about half of the $1.7 million request also comes from payment claims due to the additional time crews spent working on the project. His office is in talks to determine which of those claims are the city’s responsibility.

“I can tell you we have reviewed these numbers inside out,” Lavalla told the Council. “We have spent a considerable amount of time developing an appropriation amount that we feel comfortable with to get through this project and have enough funds not to have to come back and request any more.”

Councilors weren’t convinced that all of Kingsbury’s claims made sense, though, and asked for more negotiating time before approving additional funds.

“We were not responsible as a city for the problems with hitting rock,” Councilor Sarah Welsch said. “I guess I’m really puzzled why the contractor should be charging us (for) the delays that they should have anticipated.”

Test drills were performed before proceeding with the project, according to officials with engineering firm Hoyle, Tanner and Associates. But since the test drill was able to navigate through patches of rock, officials assumed the rocks wouldn’t pose such a large problem.

Since three councilors were absent, Councilor Sue Prentiss suggested another week would help produce more information and give the full council a chance to weigh in.

“I think this project should be completed,” she said. “We’ve made the commitment to do this.”

This isn’t the first time the sewer improvement project has encountered delays. A series of problems have stalled the project since crews began work.

The first was the discovery that a sleeve containing pipe running under Interstate 89 was filled with cement. Engineers came to the conclusion the existing pipe couldn’t be used and a new one would need to be installed. Additional permitting was then needed after the discovery divided the project into two parts, and bidding for the project also brought additional costs, Lavalla told the Council last year.

More costs came after traffic concerns prompted the state Department of Transportation to require the city to relocate part of the sewer line to the southbound line of Route 120. That required night work, which is more expensive than work done in daylight.

The council is set to take up the improvement project and proposed $1.7 million in additional costs at its next meeting at 7 p.m. on April 20 at City Hall.

Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.