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• Jury awards City of SLO $224,000 in lawsuit with contractor

  Jury awards City of SLO $224,000 in lawsuit with contractor

  The city was recently awarded $224,000 in damages by a San Luis Obispo County jury for a multi-year lawsuit involving the city and Pacific Mechanical Corporation, according a press release issued by City Attorney Christine Dietrick.

  The lawsuit stemmed from a construction contract the city had with Pacific Mechanical Corporation in 2003 to build a portion of the city’s water recycling facility. The work was not completed as planned, according to the city. The city paid Pacific Mechanical Corporation $4.8 million, withholding $1.2 million because the contractor did not finish the project on time.

  Pacific Mechanical Corporation sued the city in federal district court in Los Angeles in 2008 saying the city violated the due process for handling the contract. That case was later dismissed.

• Jury awards damages to city of SLO

  Jury awards damages to city of SLO

  A jury found that the city of San Luis Obispo wasn’t responsible for a breach of contract alleged in a lawsuit by an engineering company hired eight years ago to improve the city’s water reclamation facility.

  The city was awarded $224,000 in damages by the jury in San Luis Obispo Superior Court after an almost 11-week trial heard by Judge Charles S. Crandall.

  Pacific Mechanical Corp., based in Concord, filed the lawsuit seeking $4.8 million from the city.

• Atascadero City Council won’t wait for court on funding

  Atascadero City Council won’t wait for court on funding

  The Atascadero City Council unanimously agreed Tuesday that using nearly $600,000 mostly in general funds for economic stimulus projects normally paid for with redevelopment money is worth the risk, even if the state dissolves redevelopment agencies.

  The move is one more step in the battle between cities and the state in Gov. Jerry Brown’s push to eliminate redevelopment agencies, which use property tax revenue to revitalize blighted areas.

  Brown wants to take some of that money and redirect it to education and other spending.

• City of Atascadero responds to grand jury criticism

  City of Atascadero responds to grand jury criticism

  Atascadero will consider revising how it informs the public on employee actions, according to the city’s formal response to a June civil grand jury report on a settlement with former police chief James Mulhall.

  Mulhall unexpectedly resigned Jan. 7 to “spend more time with his family,” according to a statement from the city at the time. But about two weeks later, after it received a public information request, the city released a $126,000 mutual termination agreement that it had signed with Mulhall.

  The issue generated public scrutiny and prompted the grand jury report. The reasons behind Mulhall’s departure are still unknown because of privacy laws.

• Paso may owe reimbursement of quake money to FEMA

  Paso may owe reimbursement of quake money to FEMA

  Paso Robles may have to return $1.1 million to the federal government after an auditor said the city didn’t follow the rules with money it received after the 2003 San Simeon Earthquake.

  Four findings of alleged wrongdoing are detailed in a Sept. 13 audit by the U.S. Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General.

  City officials disagreed with all but part of one of the claims, saying that the auditor is confusing certain policies and that further documentation would give the context needed to show the city followed the law.