Kimberling City sues Archer Engineering

According to the petition, the city alleges that Archer Engineers designed a waste collection system that exceeded both the capacity of the city’s existing wastewater treatment facility and the maximum allowed flow rate.

Springfield attorney Jason Shaffer, representing Kimberling City, said the firm told the city that the system as designed would not put the city’s wastewater treatment facility at full capacity until 2018.

“That’s what they told the state of Missouri, that’s what they told us, and based on that we went forward with the project,” Shaffer said. “After the funds were approved (through a citizen-approved bond issue) and after construction had begun, and after the point of no return passed, Archer came forward and said, ‘Well, we were off on our flow study.’”

An independent study conducted by Springfield-based Scott Consulting Engineers PC, hired by Kimberling City, said the flow study – a measurement of the amount of waste carried by the system daily – prepared by Archer was based on a flow study of average flows during the tourist season. This figure, according to the study, would not take into account the peak tourist season numbers, making the company’s estimates significantly low. The study concluded that the system Archer had designed would actually put the city’s treatment facility at capacity in 2005.

“That’s a difference of 14 years. That’s quite a big difference for us,” Shaffer said.

After the inconsistencies were discovered, the city hired Scott Consulting to look at the plans and the city’s current facilities. Scott concluded that the estimates Archer had made were inaccurate, prompting the city to file their petition.

The city’s suit claims approximately $2.7 million in damages, including $1 million for cost overruns on the project and $1.6 million in costs to expand the city’s wastewater treatment facility to meet new demand.

Archer Engineering’s attorney, Mike Textor of Shughart, Thompson & Kilroy PC, declined to comment. However, in a company press release, Archer officials said, “In 1995, Archer prepared a facility plan identifying the facilities and costs associated with providing sewers to several areas of the city that were unsewered at that time. This report concluded that the addition of some of the unsewered areas would not cause the capacity of the treatment plant to be exceeded immediately. The report pointed out that, once those unsewered areas were added, there would be little remaining capacity in the plant to accommodate future growth. The report stated that the existing site could not accommodate expansion, and the city should begin the process of identifying a second site for the additional required treatment capacity.”

According to the Stone County Circuit Court clerk, a hearing has not been scheduled. Michael Zimmerman, Archer Engineers vice president-engineering, was served with the legal papers Nov. 16. The company has 30 days to respond.

Archer also is involved in several projects with the city of Ozark, including a wastewater master plan. Collin Quigley, Ozark city administrator, said the Kimberling City suit does not worry him.

“We’ve used them for quite some time, and we’re very confident in their ability to deliver the product that we need,” Quigley said.

This is not the first time Archer Engineering has run into problems after construction has begun on a major project. In 2002, it was determined that a water tower the company had built for the city of Mt. Vernon was almost four feet shorter than the city’s two existing water towers, creating a 55,000-gallon loss in storage capacity.

At the time, Mt. Vernon City Administrator Erika Glock told Mt. Vernon City Council that the problem with that project was not due to a mistake by Archer, but rather a mistake by the firm that designed the new tower.

According to Archer’s Web site, the company, which has offices in Missouri, Kansas and Kentucky, specializes in “wastewater collection and treatment planning and design.”