The City of Wichita does have a legal obligation, because I would have stopped the damage from occurring, when it first started to happen.
In fact, I did stop the project for a few hours at the very beginning of the project.
I work out of my home, and realized immediately that having objects shaken off shelves, and dropping to the floor, was not only bad for the breakable objects, but was also bad for the entire structure of my house!
I allowed the project to continue, only upon the personal assurance, by Mayor Bob Knight, that all of the damage would be fully repaired when the project was finished. This was weeks prior to the major damage happening, with the pile-driving operations of the main bridge beams.
However, I agree with you completely about the taxpayer’s responsibility!
You, and I, and all taxpayers paid Dondlinger to do the job to industry standards. I assume that any competing bidder would have bid the project to “industry standards”.
However, instead of drilling a hole for each bridge pile, and then inserting the pile, and filling the hole with concrete… as Dondlinger should have done, and was paid to do, they recklessly choose to pound the piles directly into the ground without any drilling whatsoever. This method saved Dondlinger tons of money, far more money than the entire cost of all four homes in question.
However, all that money saved by doing a short-cut method, has stayed in Dondlinger’s pocket, while us four homeowners have paid the price for Dondlinger’s huge savings.
I agree with you, that it should not be the taxpayers who pay again, because Dondlinger was paid in full for the job. They were paid 100% as if they had done the job 100% to industry standards.
The root of the problem is that the City Attorney, Gary Rebenstorf, failed to put any time limit whatsoever on “when” Dondlinger would have to make the repairs to the damaged homes.
The Court agrees with me, that Dondlinger must make the repairs, however, that could be 100 years from now, or even 2000 years from now, and that would still be well within the boundaries of Gary Rebenstorf’s Contract with Dondlinger.
I went to Court, specifically asking the Court to compel Dondlinger to repair the damages at a given date, wanting the Court to set a reasonable date.
However, Dondlinger sued me, for asking for something that the City of Wichita contract does not require, i.e. a “time certain”, when the repairs would be done.
I ended up having to pay Dondlinger a sanction award of $225.00 because of the poor wording in the City of Wichita Contract, and The Court does not have the authority to write a new provision into a signed contract.
Also, you should know that my own insurance company was excused from the case, because they argued in court, that the $97,000 in damage, as given in the Netco estimate, (which is less than what they would have estimated the damages to be) was ALL caused by an intentional act on the part of Dondlinger Construction Company to save money. This is not a covered peril under my policy. (I agreed with the Court on that one.)
Finally, a citizen does not have the legal right to sue the insurance company of a contractor. In this case, Traveler’s Insurance Company is responsible only to Dondlinger, because Dondlinger pays the premium.
My only option is to sue Dondlinger, but thanks to Gary Rebenstorf, Dondlinger can wait for all eternity to make the repairs, and still be in compliance with Rebenstorf’s poorly-written contract.
What did we four homeowners do to deserve this?
What would you do next?

Contractors who contract with the city are to provide general liability insurance and also builder’s risk insurance. The only thing that the city needs to do, which would be THE RIGHT THING TO DO, is to pressure Dondlinger to settle this matter or be disqualified from bidding future city work.

When I read your ridiculous comments, I am reminded of a favorite quote, “Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt”.

“no legal or contractual obligation…” what about just doing the right thing.
I doubt Mr. Gietzen caused the damage to his house…just as I am sure his neighbors did not damage their house.
I hope Mayor Brewer will take a stand here and help a citizen that has been wronged. This is outrageous. Where is the ethical principle of our city?
And Pat, your slam against bloggers was unwarranted.
The Eagle biases its reporting daily…….what does Mr Gietzen’s ‘anti- abortion activism’ have to do with the damage to his home.