Council approves $557,000 change order to finish Jets sports building after months of delays

Edison Township Council approved a $557,000 change order on Feb. 8 to allow completion of the Jets sports building, bringing the revised contract total for the standalone sports building to roughly $11.628 million. Council members and project managers said the work was delayed by utility redesigns, late engineering deliverables and other conditions that pushed the contractor’s schedule onto the project’s critical path.

The change order was the product of three months of negotiations between the township, its construction manager and the contractor. "This is what's called general conditions," said Rich Brown, the project leader working with the township. "It’s for their staff, trailers, fencing, project management — everything they cost on a monthly basis." Brown told the council his team and the contractor trimmed the original request (about $656,000) down by roughly $100,000 to the $557,000 figure presented for approval.

Why it matters: officials said the additional funds are intended to avoid a longer stoppage that…