The city of Palo Alto is gearing up for a legal fight against the general contractor hired to rebuild the Mitchell Park Library and Community Center.

Oklahoma-based Flintco Pacific Construction was scheduled to wrap up construction on the $24.3 million project on April 29, but city officials say the finish line is now actually more than a year away.

"There have been significant delays on this project and the city is displeased with the contractor's performance to date," City Manager James Keene told a visibly disappointed city council Monday night.

Keene pinned the most recent setback on subcontractor Fast Glass, which he said failed to meet the deadline for installing new windows. That in turn has pushed back the next step: weather-proofing.

With the project shifting into "dispute mode," the city attorney's office has assembled a team of legal experts to provide counsel. Council members will meet in a closed session later this month to discuss what City Attorney Molly Stump called the city's "relative risks and responsibilities."

Keene said he expects legal proceedings to pick up steam once construction has been completed.

"Our primary focus is building completion," he said, "and once that is achieved our focus will shift to further determining the level of responsibility each of the city consultants and contractors bears for the delays and associated costs."

Based on expenditures, the project is about 72 percent

complete. Experts the city has conferred with have indicated it could be finished before the contractor's revised estimate of May 2013, said Phil Bobel, the city's assistant director of public works.

"Our confidence level in the contractor Flintco and its (subcontractors) is not high," said Bobel. "However, we're going to work hard to try to exceed the schedule. That is, bring it in before that date."

The city council has been keeping close tabs on the troublesome project since Sept. 12, when it reluctantly agreed to increase a contingency fund to cover unanticipated cost overruns by 20 percent of the $24.3 million price tag.

At the same time, council members ramped up their oversight of the project by requiring monthly reports on change orders. To date, $1.7 million worth of change orders have been approved. Monday, the city council voted to add detailed progress updates to future reports.

Much is riding on the project. It represents the centerpiece of a $76 million bond measure passed by voters in 2008 to upgrade the city's dilapidated book-lending facilities. The Downtown Library already received a $2.85 million makeover and the Main Library is next on the list.

Despite the numerous setbacks and overruns, the project remains well below the $41 million the city had expected it to cost. Still, that was no salve for Vice Mayor Greg Scharff.

"I think it's really unfortunate the contractor is not living up to the promises they made to us on this," he said.

Email Jason Green at jgreen@dailynewsgroup.com.