The contractor that built the new Washington-Warren Airport terminal can have its penalty for not substantially completing the facility on time — if it completes all work related to a “punch list” by Sept. 1

A punch list is a group of minor tasks to be completed to satisfy the project design required by the project contract.

During its meeting Monday, Washington’s City Council considered a recommendation by the city’s Airport Advisory Board to reduce the liquidated damages for the airport terminal project.

At its July 14 meeting, the Airport Advisory Board voted 4-1 to recommend that the council lower the liquidated damages from $7,000 to $3,500. The request for decreasing the liquidated damages came from A.R. Chesson Construction Co., which was awarded the contract to build the terminal to replace the one destroyed by a gustnado July 1, 2012.

The project’s engineer and architect, along with city staff, initially recommended enforcing the $500 a day in liquidated damages for a total of $7,000, according to a city document.

The damages were imposed as a result of the project not being substantially completed by the end of the specified contract time. The adjusted completion date was April 14. The actual substantial completion date was April 28.

Councilman Doug Mercer said the board thoroughly discussed the damages issue during its July 14 meeting. Although the contractor was given a punch list to complete, most items on that list have not been completed.

Mercer made the motion that the damages be reduced to the recommended level only if the contractor completes the punch list by Sept. 1. The council unanimously approved that motion.

In December 2013, the council awarded an $899,905.50 contract to Chesson to build a new terminal building at Washington-Warren Airport.

In other business, the council unanimously approved the removal of the traffic signals at the intersection of West Main and Respess streets and replacing them with a three-way stop configuration.