The Ironton City Council passed a resolution Thursday that will allow for the completion of the city’s sewer-relining project.

During a special meeting Thursday, the council approved an extension of the contract it had originally negotiated with Reynolds Inliner, Inc. for the project.

The additional $511,000 that council approved put the total inliner contract at approximately $11 million.

Finance Director Kristen Martin had explained at an earlier meeting that the city’s original contract stated the cost would not exceed $10.4 million, although the city had received bond anticipation notes for $14 million.

Martin said the city and Reynolds anticipated an additional cost, which is why the city secured notes for more than $10.4 million.

The resolution passed with a 5-0 vote. Councilman Dave Frazer, who said he approves of the resolution, abstained from the vote over questions about the special meeting’s legality. Five others, Kevin Waldo, Bob Cleary, Chuck O’Leary, Frank Murphy and Beth Rist voted for the resolution. Councilman Mike Lutz was absent,

The meeting was called Wednesday night during a meeting of the council’s public utilities and finance committees. The city charter calls for a 24-hour notice of the special meetings. Frazer voted against waiving the 24-hour provision, as well.

The contract extension was discussed during Wednesday night’s PUC meeting.

Representatives from E.L. Robinson Engineering and Reynolds Inliner told the council that there were several reasons the additional half million dollars are needed to finish the city’s sewer project.

One of the reasons was additional costs of sewer lines that had collapsed, Patrick Leighty, from E.L. Robinson, said.

Another reason was inadequate maps of the city’s sewer system. Maps showed some spots in the system as being manholes, when they were actually flush tanks. The flush tanks all had to be removed and replaced with manholes.

John Murphy, from Reynolds Inliner, Inc., explained that because of the scope of the project, the company did not look at every manhole on the city to determine if they were in fact manholes.

“A job this big, you just look at different spots,” Murphy said. “You can’t pop every manhole.”