More delays seen for Fountain Square

The first song the new fountain in Fountain Square “will dance to is Jingle Bells,” City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz joked to residents at a 1st Ward meeting Tuesday night.

Bobkiewicz says now that repairs to the fountain’s pipes have finally made them water tight, it will take 45 to 60 days for the Canada-based vendor that supplied the equipment for the fountain’s programmable displays to thoroughly test the equipment to make sure it’s operating properly.

The city manager said the general contractor on the renovations to the downtown square is way behind schedule on the project and is being penalized $1,400 for each additional day of delay.

“The penalties amount to $175,000 now,” Bobkiewicz said, adding that the city is withholding payments to the contractor to enforce the penalty clause.

Wally Bobkiewicz.

But Bobkiewicz said another major construction project — repaving Sheridan Road from Lincoln to Isabella streets is expected to be completed shortly, in time for the return of Northwestern University students to campus later this month.