Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Construction topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Marshall City Council approves assignment of aquatic center construction contracts and use of change‑order policy
Summary
The council authorized assignment of construction contracts for the city’s aquatic center and agreed to use the city’s change‑order policy to allow the project to proceed without returning every change order to the council.
The Marshall City Council on Monday approved assignment of the aquatic center construction contracts and authorized staff to use the city’s established change‑order policy for the project, enabling project managers to approve certain contract adjustments without returning every change to the council for a vote.
City Administrator Sharon summarized the policy adopted in February 2019 and said it allows change orders to be approved by the city administrator when they remain within the project contingency and an additional $25,000 threshold. “If you're within the contingency of the project budget, you would not have to come back to council for approval only when you exceeded project contingency plus $25,000,” Sharon said.
The council discussed lessons learned from prior projects, including the Red Baron project, and the need to avoid construction delays that could increase costs or halt work. “You can't have construction delays on a project like that because you can't sit for two weeks,” Council member Jim said during debate, urging clarity for the public on how change orders will be handled. Council member Amanda seconded the motion to approve the assignments and to allow the change‑order policy to be used.
Supporters of the vote said centralized, predictable use of contingency funds would keep contractors working and could reduce total project cost by avoiding stop‑start delays. Sharon also said the council and an aquatic center committee expect to review construction progress and meet periodically to address any issues that arise.
Motion and vote: Motion to approve the assignment of the construction contracts for the aquatic center and to allow the city's change‑order policy to be used was made by Council member Jim and seconded by Council member Amanda. The council voted electronically and the motion passed.
Background and next steps: The city plans periodic reviews of the project by the aquatic center committee and will bring items back to the council if they exceed the contingency plus the $25,000 threshold. The action permits staff and the construction manager to move forward, subject to the policy’s limits and any required future council approvals for larger overruns.
