Thor-Freya contractor, claiming damage related to Camp Hope, receives $70,000 settlement

The general contractor in charge of completing the reconstruction of Thor and Freya streets will receive a $70,000 settlement from the city of Spokane as compensation for damages and other claims blamed on Camp Hope.

On Monday, the Spokane City Council voted unanimously to approve the settlement agreement with Cameron-Reilly LLC.

The contractor had raised concerns the homeless encampment located near the roadwork, which did not exist when the company bid for the contract, had been the source of vandalism, thefts and threats to the business and its crews.

“We made our Proposal based upon the conditions that were in place at the time,” wrote Mike Reilly, an owner of Cameron-Reilly LLC, in a July letter to Mayor Nadine Woodward and the Spokane City Council.

“Unfortunately, when we started the project in mid-March, we could not imagine the conditions in which we would be putting our employees and other subcontractors and their workers.”

The Camp Hope encampment is located just off of Thor Street, along the path of the $8.9 million reconstruction project.

Cameron-Reilly LLC had leased land owned by the state Department of Transportation for a locked storage yard, which Reilly said had been the subject of numerous break-ins.

Portable toilets also were reportedly damaged.

The company originally asked for more than the $70,000 settlement agreement, Spokane Risk Manager Mike Ormsby told council members during Monday’s briefing session, but the city negotiated the claims down.

Cameron-Reilly LLC did not respond to a request for comment.