Nevertheless, said Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow, the city has more paperwork to go through now, since the construction company for the project's first phase left behind some poorly done work, then declared bankruptcy.

Gen-Con Inc. began work on the building's foundation and site work more than a year ago and was substantially done with the $1.7 million worth of work, as scheduled, Feb. 1, Tinfow said.

But some electrical work was left unfinished and, even more problematic, the ducts installed throughout the concrete slab floor for cabling were laid too deep. In some cases, concrete had even gotten into the ducts, according to Tinfow. Those problems were discovered a few months ago when workers began to run the cabling through the ducts. Since then custom rims—through which the cable runs from the duct into the building—have become a requirement since the depth is larger than standard rims are designed for, and other repairs had to be made, she said.

All that will cost about $125,000, Tinfow said. And although the city had initially held back 10 percent of its payments to Gen-Con, as is typical for these projects, she said, in the spring it held back only 5 percent, on the recommendation of Gilbane Inc., the city's manager of the project. The money the city withheld from Gen-Con is less than the $125,000 needed to make the repairs and cannot be just directly transferred to cover the repairs.

To further complicate matters, Gen-Con declared bankruptcy about two months ago, which would suggest that it won't be able to reimburse the city for the costs of remedying its mistakes. Its contract with the city, however, included a bond by the construction company to cover situations like this, Tinfow said, and the surety on the bond has so far been willing to work with the city to cover the costs.

"It shouldn't have any substantial impact on the project, just more paperwork," she said, adding that it could delay the construction somewhat, but that now things are on schedule. "The project's going very well."

Gen-Con went through a two-bid process before it was selected by the city to do the work, Tinfow said, and the city chose Gen-Con, by law, because it had the lowest bid. But she said there was no indication that Gen-Con wouldn't do a good job or was in financial trouble.

"Gen-Con was very well-respected" within the construction community, she said. "Nobody had any inkling this was a problem."

The city has $15 million with which to build the library and is operating on a $14.5 million budget. So far, the city has committed about $14.4 million to the job, but Tinfow said that at least $300,000 of that is for potential costs of change orders that she expects will be lower. In addition, the city still has the other $500,000 it can use toward the project, which she said is currently budgeted at about $14.78 million altogether, including contingency money. She said she is researching ways the city could use any remaining money, as well as the approximately $300,000 the bond money has so far earned in interest over and above its original amount.