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Tenafly pulls vote on $82,000 skate‑park change order after council questions unexpected costs
Summary
Council members halted approval of a change order for Grove Street Park’s skate area after learning of an $82,000 surface/curbing cost and an insurance‑required fence of about $42,000; staff will return with recommendations and a project post‑mortem.
The Tenafly Mayor and Council pulled a resolution authorizing the final change order for the Grove Street Park project after members said they were not informed earlier that work to prepare the skate‑park surface and curbing would add about $82,000, and that an insurance‑required 8‑foot fence would cost roughly $42,000.
The decision followed a lengthy project update from Andy (staff member), who described a five‑year project history that began with design bids under $500,000, later saw bids above $1 million, then moved into negotiated contracts. The negotiated base contract awarded to contractor Kennegan was roughly $490,000 and did not originally include the skate‑park surface. The borough separately purchased skate‑park equipment for about $69,000 under a Sourcewell contract, Andy said. After the vendor supplied a smaller layout, the borough obtained a negotiated price for the surface and curbing that staff reduced by negotiation but which still added roughly $82,000 to the project estimate.
Mayor and council members questioned why those costs were not disclosed earlier and whether the borough had consulted its insurance fund (JIF) before construction. Titus (council/staff not specified) explained the fence is required by the borough’s insurer and is a condition of coverage. At one point a council member summarized the immediate concern: unexpected additional costs and a smaller skate‑park footprint than earlier designs had led the council to decline voting on the change order that night.
Andy said the skate‑park equipment layout arrived late and that Kennegan took more than 60 days to provide a price; he also said the firm’s original quote had been higher and was negotiated down. “Once we had the layout that was approved, then we had to redesign the surface … it took him literally 60 plus days to get us a number, and we didn’t agree to that number. We’ve negotiated him down to the number you see in front of you,” Andy said.
At the meeting the council agreed to remove the change‑order resolution (identified in meeting materials as part of the Grove Street Park packet) from the consent agenda and to schedule follow‑up conversations among staff, the contractor and council members. Council members also requested a holistic review of the project and the series of change orders; one council member asked for a post‑mortem on project oversight to identify how multiple change orders accumulated.
Action taken: the council pulled the resolution authorizing the change order and will consider it at a future meeting after staff returns with a recommendation and supporting detail. The council also requested a project review to explain prior change orders and procurement choices.
Next steps: staff will convene stakeholders to clarify the change‑order pricing, provide an itemized breakdown of the fence and surface costs, and return to a future meeting with options and recommendations.
