MnDOT Responds, Citing Public Risk; City Says Not So

Earlier this week, Minnetonka City Manager John Gunyou called MnDOT’s , in the event of a government shutdown, "political maneuvering."

Today MnDOT is responding, saying that continuing construction on the project during a shutdown, “could put the driving public at risk” because state inspectors would not be on hand to oversee the work.

Last week, MnDOT sent a notice to municipalities across the state, including Minnetonka, warning that projects involving state funding would be suspended in the event of a state shutdown. But because the state’s share of the funding for the Bren Road/Highway 169 project has already been appropriated and paid, and because the city of Minnetonka, not MnDOT, is fully administering the construction, city officials insist the government shutdown should not shutdown this project.

Earlier in the week, Gunyou wrote a letter to Transportation Commissioner Thomas Sorel and Governor Mark Dayton, which charged that the decision to suspend the project may be more about politics, than about roads.

“This project is now in jeopardy, perhaps the potential victim of political maneuvering seemingly more designed to inflict as much pain as possible during the looming state shutdown,” Gunyou wrote.

But in an email to Minnetonka Patch, MnDOT spokesperson Kevin Gutknecht, defended MnDOT’s decision to exercise a clause in their contract with the city, which would rescind previous approval for work along Highway 169, in the event of a shutdown.

“MnDOT inspectors insure that contractors are meeting contract specifications when constructing any type of infrastructure. Not conducting the inspections could put taxpayers at risk financially if the work needs to be done over,” Gutknecht said “If work does not meet appropriate safety specifications, it could put the driving public at risk.”

Within hours of this statement from MnDOT, Gunyou, who says he has not yet received official response to his first letter from either Sorel or Dayton, drafted a second letter to the administration. In that letter, which was hand-delivered to Sorel's office earlier today, Gunyou rejects MnDOT’s claim that without state inspectors on the scene, the project could be a public safety risk.

“I hope you are aware the independent MnDOT-certified inspectors have been performing all necessary inspections from the onset of the project [April 2011], with no assistance from any MnDOT inspector,” Gunyou wrote.

Gunyou also offered, on behalf of the city of Minnetonka, to pay for any additional MnDOT-certified, independent inspectors to be on scene, if the government shuts down on July 1. He said the city would rather foot that bill, than the $3 million tab that would be incurred if the project was shutdown post-July 1.

And what about MnDOT’s claim that the project could put taxpayers at risk financially if the work needs to be done over? It's totally without merit, according to Gunyou: "Since the city of Minnetonka has assumed the entire legal and financial responsibility for the project, the taxpayers of Minnesota have absolutely no financial exposure on this project."

As it stands, the city has put a two-week delay on the Bren Road bridge demolition, which had been scheduled for this weekend. In the meantime, Gunyou said the city is, “hopeful that this good faith offer satisfactorily addresses…remaining concerns, and look forward to resuming this important project as soon as possible.”