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Council approves change order adding third elevator; sprinkler retrofit prompts transparency requests
Summary
Council approved a $2.16 million increase (covering the third elevator payment) and a change order related to the downtown parking garage project; council members asked staff to benchmark and return with comparison bids after an automatic sprinkler design raised an estimated $700,000 contingency expenditure.
The council on Oct. 21 approved a change order and additional expenditure to cover the construction cost of a third elevator in the downtown parking garage and voted to increase the contract amount accordingly. Separately, staff told council an automatic fire-suppression (sprinkler) system had been added to the garage design after code changes and recent parking-garage fires elsewhere; staff said the sprinkler retrofit will cost roughly $700,000 and would be taken from contingency funds.
City Engineer Sean Lanier and Procurement Director Daphne Robinson explained the garage procurement had been structured as a design–build guaranteed-maximum-price (GMP) contract. As Lanier explained, the original GMP included a standpipe-only design (the then-required fire-protection system), but after national incidents and a forthcoming code change requiring automatic sprinklers the city chose to update the design to provide greater asset protection. The sprinkler construction cost increases the GMP; the sprinkler design can be invoiced as a design-phase change order while staff benchmarks full construction costs.
Several council members asked for additional transparency on the sprinkler change-order pricing and whether multiple bids or benchmarks had been sought; procurement staff said design–build GMP contracts do not require the same sub-bid disclosures as other procurement types. Council requested staff benchmark the sprinkler cost against comparable suppliers/subcontractors and bring back an informational briefing on potential savings. Staff agreed to post the design change-invoice and seek comparative pricing before final construction approvals.
Council approved the change order for the third elevator and authorized adding the $2.16 million to the garage budget (part of a reimbursement framework with the developer for a portion of elevator cost). Councilmembers emphasized protecting the city’s $18 million parking-structure investment but asked staff to seek cost comparisons so the sprinkler retrofit can be vetted publicly.
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