New coating for city digester

NEW LONDON – The New London Common Council approved a settlement and release agreement for the south digester coating project at the New London Wastewater Treatment Plant.
The settlement and release agreement were approved at a special council meeting May 7.
Leading off the discussion, Robert Garske, Director of Public Works for the city of New London, told the council that after all the work of the project is completed to the satisfaction of the city, the city will release all parties from any liability moving forward.
“We’re on the third round of coating,” Garske said. “As I’ve stated many times, I think the major failure has always been in the application processes and not the product.”
He added that the city now has a coating contractor that is known for its expertise.

“I believe that through this workflow that has been established, that everything will be done properly, inspected, and after each phase is complete, they actually have to be approved by Donohue, our engineer, and the city, to agree that it was done properly before you move on to the next step.”
New London City Attorney Keith Steckbauer told the council that the city thought it had an agreement with the coating contractor late last year, but that agreement was pulled back by the contractor before it could be presented to the council for approval.
“This I think is actually a better solution,” Steckbauer said, referring to the current agreement presented to the council.
Steckbauer said the previous agreement had the city relying only on a limited warranty.
He acknowledged the current agreement does not include the warranty desired by the city.
“But at the end of the day, it’s the only way we could come up with, that we could really buy into, that gets us a completed digester, that we need done before we address the next one,” Steckbauer said. “It’s about as good as I think you’re going to get.”
New London City Administrator Chad Hoerth said the warranty on the materials used would still be in place.
“But I don’t think we’re really concerned about the coating, it’s all about how it’s done,” Steckbauer said. “It’s quality stuff that we’re putting on.”

Public Works Committee
At the May 5 New London Public Works Committee meeting, Garske explained to the committee the history of the problems with recoating the digester. He said that the city had started the process of recoating the south digester, but the contractor pulled out stating “that they were singled out and that they shouldn’t be carrying the load as far as costs to recoat it for a third time.”

The matter eventually turned into a “legal battle against entities,” Garske said.
After numerous discussions involving attorney’s, Garske said the biggest issue for the contractor was the one-year warranty that the city requested after the completion of recoating the digester.
“With them stating that, then our biggest hang-up was the fact that we want to make sure that all the documentation that led up to it, that the failure was caused due to application or product,” Garske said. “So, to protect our interests, we wanted to make sure that all this stuff was being done properly through every-single stage, so that any chance of future failure would be eliminated because of all these steps and checks.”
Because the contractor wanted the city to sign off on the one-year warranty and release the contractor of any liability if the coating failed again, the city wanted a third-party inspector to inspect the coating project during each step of the recoating process. The city’s engineering firm and the city would have to agree that each step was done appropriately and passed the third-party inspection.
“And as long as this is being done, then we know for sure that this is being installed properly this time, less chance for this lack of adherement between the two coatings, and that even the prep is done correctly,” Garske said. “So, if we work through all these steps and know that this is being done correctly, I think this is the best outcome versus the direction it was headed, which would be through a legal battle and another two years of trying to get this thing coated.”
Garske said the city currently is able to use only one digester, which is a struggle at times.
The agreement does not release the Sherwin-Williams product used for the coating, if there is failure with the product.
“It still carries the warranty that that coating carries,” Garske said.
Garske told the committee that he thinks this is the best option for the city to get the digester back online.
Ald. Bernie Ritchie Jr. asked if once all the steps are approved and the recoating project is completed, would there be a 100% guarantee that the coating would not come off.
Garske said there is not a 100% guarantee.
“They will do every step possible to have that coating adhere properly,” Garske said.
He added that he thinks the biggest failure during both attempts to do the recoating project was the application of the coating.