Three years after a multi-million dollar rehab of “Fountain Square” in downtown Evanston was completed, the fountain still isn’t working so they city is seeking money from the construction company that did the work to now pay for additional repairs, officials said.
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“We’re demanding ($5 million) for the repair of the fountain,” said city attorney Nick Cummings. “We’re at the very early stages of this.”
Cummings said the city is working now to draft a lawsuit against Wisconsin-based Copenhave Construction Inc., the construction company Evanston paid to rehab Fountain Square in 2017 in the city’s downtown area. In a city news release last month, officials announced that a demand letter had been sent to the company seeking $5 million, “the estimated cost of repairing and reconstructing the fountain to address a significant source of water loss.”
“We want to make sure it’s a complaint that’s going to withstand a motion to dismiss so we don’t get kicked out of court. We’re being very methodical about this,” Cummings said.
City officials stated in the demand letter to Copenhaver Construction that a forensic engineering study completed by Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc. concluded that Copenhaver installed incorrectly sized waterstops inside the fountain and did not follow the manufacturer’s recommendations for installation, causing water loss of up to 4,536 gallons per day, according to the release.
“It was leaking out of the fountain at a tremendous rate,” Cummings said.
Chicago attorney Todd Murphy represents Copenhaver Construction Inc., and on declined to comment on the situation, citing pending litigation. April 13.
The fountain was not operated last spring and officials announced that it will remain off this year, as well. Cummings said the fountain worked for a short time in 2019, but it was shut off in 2020 due to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. He explained that when the city turned the fountain on again in 2021, not only did it not work, but it leaked thousands of gallons of water underground.
The release states that Copenhaver failed to submit the waterstops to the city or its engineering consultant, Christopher B. Burke Engineering, for review or approval prior to installation. In addition, the release states, the city and Christopher B. Burke Engineering have determined that extensive repairs are needed to fix the issue, including removal and replacement of granite pavers, existing mechanical and electrical systems, and concrete substructure.
“The city’s not interested in Copenhaver coming back to fix it,” the city attorney said.
Cummings said Copenhaver Construction received the letter from the city and that it is “asking for a lot of information basically to see if we can prove our case.”
He also said the city is willing to negotiate.
“I don’t what to spend a lot of my staff time on litigation if [the construction company is] willing to negotiate a resolution,” Cummings said.
At the same time however, he said the city plans to have repairs made to the fountain so that it is operational in 2023. In the meantime, the north and south ends of Fountain Square will be open for public gatherings, seating and activities this year.
Brian L. Cox is a freelancer.