The Salinas City Council on Oct. 14 approved final acceptance of a city building renovation project that staff said expanded substantially from an originally limited roof repair to a larger interior rebuild after the contractor and city teams uncovered structural issues.

City staff told the council the contract began as a limited effort to address roof leaks and to perform a modest interior build-back, but when workers removed the metal roof deck they discovered degraded structural elements and systems — including HVAC supports, portions of the wall framing and a sewer pipe leak — that required additional work. City Engineer Adriana Robles said the project required multiple change orders to address abatement, structural repairs, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) restroom upgrades and related build-back tasks.

Robles said the city solicited bids and did not receive responses in the original procurement round; the city then reached out to contractors with prior city experience and accepted a responsive bid from Premier Builders. "We issued a number of change orders to this contractor in order to try to stay ahead of all the things that were coming up," Robles said. She described the situation as a chain of discoveries: removing the deck exposed problems that required additional demolition and rebuilding, and the interior scope expanded accordingly.

Council members pressed staff on procurement and oversight questions during the consent-agenda discussion. Council member Margaret asked whether the extended scope could have been known in advance; staff responded that many issues only became visible once interior abatement and demolition began. Council member Tony asked whether the Parks, Culture & Arts Commission (PCAC) had been briefed; staff said the committee had been updated during a prior meeting.

The item was on the consent calendar and passed with the rest of the consent agenda by recorded vote. Staff provided the council with follow-up information about the bidding process and change-order history during the discussion and offered to provide further details to council members and the public on request.

Why it matters: city capital projects can expand when concealed defects are uncovered during abatement and demolition. Council members said they wanted assurance that procurement outreach was robust and that the city would apply lessons learned for future bidding and oversight.

What’s next: staff said it will provide additional documentation on the change orders and contracting process on request and will continue to coordinate with council members who requested follow-up.