County approves $196,000 change order to KONE to keep elevator project on schedule

Oklahoma County commissioners on an administrative motion approved a $196,000 change order to contractor KONE intended to protect the schedule for an elevator modernization program spanning county campuses.

County engineering staff told commissioners the overall elevator program is a roughly $12,000,000 contract. “So, this $196,000 change order is for them to bring in a fourth crew out of Kansas City and to ensure the schedule, and it kinda puts it back on them as the vendor, not us as the owner, to make sure we make that December 2026 date,” county engineering staff said. The project schedule shown by the vendor indicates the work completing around Thanksgiving 2026.

The board moved, seconded and approved the change order by voice vote. Commissioners did not raise conditions on the change order during the public motion and approval. The engineering staff described the change as an addition to the original scope to add installation capacity and reduce the county’s risk of vendor-caused delay.

The action leaves the contract value increased by the change order amount; the county did not provide a line-item breakdown of how the $196,000 will be spent beyond the extra crew deployment. No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the public transcript; the motion passed on the board’s voice vote.

The county did not specify further warranty or inspection changes tied to the change order in the session. The county’s engineering staff said the schedule as adjusted still targets a December 2026 completion for all affected elevators, with the vendor’s schedule showing substantial work done by late November 2026.

Pending items include the vendor’s delivery and installation milestones through the remainder of 2026. The county did not set a follow-up report date on the public record during this item.

The board returned to other consent and administrative business after approving the change order.