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Board approves South Liberty change orders, flags arithmetic discrepancies in cumulative totals
Summary
Marshall's board approved multiple change orders on the South Liberty project — including a $5,561 electrical indicator change and a larger $290,441.08 package of site and security work — while members asked staff to verify inconsistent cumulative totals shown in the paperwork.
The Marshall Board of Works and Safety approved several change orders for the South Liberty project at its Aug. 25 meeting, and members asked staff to verify arithmetic shown in the change-order summaries before the board receives final accounting. Board members approved change order number 3 for $5,561 to add a red/green light system at a pump house for visual identification of pump status. Board members also approved change order number 4, presented in the packet at $290,441.08, which covered a series of items including soil undercutting, weekend concrete and overtime labor, modification of aluminum rail panels used to close the railroad crossing during high-water operations, storage building construction at the end of Candace Court, a culvert and grading work, restoration of the contractor’s construction drive off Robin Road, and security measures including numerous gates and fencing along the levee. During the discussion members noted an arithmetic inconsistency in the packet: the cumulative total listed for the contract after change orders 1 and 2 did not match the sum of the numbers shown. One board member said the page shows a cumulative subtotal that appears to be off by roughly $107,000 and asked staff to confirm whether the typo is on change order 3 or elsewhere. Board members nevertheless moved to approve the change orders on the condition that staff verify the accounting and clarify the numbers for the official record. Staff described one isolated utility incident: a manhole next to the project boundary, installed during prior work, had been buried in dirt and was damaged when a contractor cleared the area. Staff said the manhole was not shown on the project drawings. Staff also noted a deduct for not painting the pump house interior, and an alteration to one rail closure panel because the railhead was about an inch higher than expected. Change order number 5, also approved at the meeting, covers installation of air-relief valves at the tops of pump houses to address air-pressure buildup during rebuilds. Board members approved the change orders by voice vote and directed staff to confirm the numerical totals shown in the change-order summary before finalizing contract accounting.
