Council declines $137,892 change order after engineersplans error debate

Fergus Falls City Council members voted down Change Order No. 3 for the D'Lagoon Campground Improvement Project after extended debate over who should pay for electrical work that staff says was underbid because the construction plans used an incorrect scale.

The nut graf: Staff said the electrical subcontractor discovered the plan scale on the construction drawings was wrong, underrepresenting conduit and wiring by about 50%, and proposed Change Order No. 3 to add $137,891.92 to the contract. City staff recommended using the project contingency; several council members argued the design error should be the engineer’s responsibility and opposed reducing the contingency for this cost.

Grant, the project presenter, told the council the electrical work was bid as a lump-sum item and the contractor’s bid was based on quantities calculated from the provided plans. "Change Order 3 includes additional wiring conduit necessary for the project to function as intended," he said, and the total included a 5% prime contractor markup that the city must allow under contract and state law.

Bill, the city finance staff member, explained the project budget and contingency structure. He said the original approved construction budget was $3,634,875.71 and included a contingency of $330,000; approving the change order would reduce that contingency to about $150,000, which staff said would still leave funds for typical unforeseen conditions.

Several council members pushed back. Councilmember Mortensen questioned why the city should absorb a $137,000 overrun that he said resulted from an engineer’s error. "If the scale was wrong on the drawings, whose fault is that?" he asked. Staff acknowledged the scale mistake and described it as an "error and omission on our part as the engineer," and added that the issue arose because the electrical subconsultant supplied drawings on 22x34 sheets with a text scale rather than a bar scale; the city’s plan set was reduced to 11x17 and the text scale did not reflow correctly.

Councilmember Cramer called for accountability from the engineering firm involved and said the city should pursue recovery from the consultant’s errors rather than use its contingency. Other council members said the work must be completed for the campground to operate and noted that much of the conduit was already installed last fall; staff said wiring would be installed shortly and power is required for the RV sites to function.

After discussion the motion to approve Change Order No. 3 failed on the council floor. The council did not approve the prime contractor’s request to increase the contract for the additional wiring and conduit; staff said the parties — the prime contractor, electrical subcontractor and engineer — should continue discussions and return to the council with a proposed resolution or settlement.

Ending: City staff will report back with the results of negotiations among the contractor, subcontractor and engineer and with any proposed next steps. The conduit is in the ground and staff said the campground cannot be fully functional without the wiring work, so the council’s decision leaves an outstanding operational issue for the D'Lagoon project.

Provenance: topicintro block_id: "1008.12" evidence_excerpt: "Change order 3 includes additional wiring conduit necessary... The total cost of the change order is $137,891.92... the plan scale was incorrect... the plans underrepresented the work by 50%." topicfinish block_id: "2055.88" evidence_excerpt: "So it's just Scott and Scott, I believe. All those against same sign... I think that obviously the majority say so the motion fails."