KIMBALL, Tenn. – A measurement error caused a new city maintenance and storage building along Kimball Cove Road to cost double the original estimate.
At the July meeting of the Kimball Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Mayor Rex Pesnell said the “mix-up” wasn’t discovered until National Barn Company in Portland, Tennessee, delivered the building.
Pesnell said Scott Hawkins with local contracting company STH & Associates told city leaders originally that the building would cost $8,400, but he had mistakenly provided National Barn Company the wrong dimensions for that quote.
The price was for a 30-by-20-by-12-foot building, but Kimball needed a 30-by-40-by-14-foot structure to house its new $200,000 garbage truck, among other vehicles and tools.
“So, what happened in a roundabout way is [Hawkins] ordered the building, but he got the figures wrong a little bit,” Pesnell said. “The one he ordered was only 20 feet long, and it needed to be 40 feet long. It was not discovered until the building was delivered.”
Pesnell said Hawkins contacted the town immediately about the mistake, and a decision was made to purchase an additional building that would do the job properly.
The addition basically doubled the price from the original quote to $16,800, officials said, and Hawkins paid the difference.
Hawkins requested the board’s help to cover the additional costs, but told Pesnell he would live with whatever the board decided to do.
Pesnell said Hawkins had been “very good to the town over the years.”
“He realizes that he made a mistake, but you’ve got to remember that he’s not charging us for any of the additional concrete, and he [has] done all the administrative costs for free,” he said. “At times, he gives us a lot of free advice and stuff like that also.”
Alderman Mark Payne said he couldn’t vote to pay Hawkins the money due to family relations, but he thought that’s exactly what the board should do.
“He’s done a whole lot more work for this town than $8,400 for nothing,” he said.
Alderman John Matthews said if Hawkins had provided the building company the right dimensions originally, he would’ve quoted a price of $16,800, so he didn’t see a problem with paying for all of what the needed building costs.
Several residents at the meeting spoke up in favor of repaying Hawkins, as well.
“If you’ve got the building, and that’s what the building costs, you got what you wanted,” one resident said. “You would’ve had to pay $16,000 to start with.”
The board voted 3-0 to repay Hawkins the money with Payne abstaining.
Vice Mayor Jerry Don Case said Kimball would have to generate “paperwork” to show auditors why the added expense was deemed necessary.
Ryan Lewis is based in Marion County. Contact him at ryanlewis34@gmail.com.