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Committee approves $82,600 change order for public safety building chiller; staff cites unforeseen work and procurement lessons
Summary
The Finance Committee approved an $82,600 change order for the public safety building chiller project, citing omitted controls and unexpected structural work found during roof work; staff said procurement and contract templates will be adjusted to reduce future change orders.
The Wausau Finance Committee on Aug. 12 approved an $82,600 change order to the public safety building chiller project to cover controls and unexpected structural work discovered during installation.
Committee members approved the change after staff explained that an engineering firm’s original design omitted controls and that workers found an additional concrete plate under the roof that required extra structural work. “We had an engineer firm come in and design it all and everything, and they forgot, controls, the add on to it. There's also different structural stuff we didn't know of until we opened the roof up and seen that there was an extra concrete plate there,” said Eric, a staff member, describing the overruns. The project’s original budget was described in the meeting as $215,000; staff and committee referenced an earlier budget update (about $133,000) and the new $82,600 change order approved at this meeting.
During discussion, committee member Alden Kearney asked why costs had risen so much. “The budget for the project was 215,000, and then, it went up… because we didn't allow enough. And now it's going up another 82,600. Can you tell me why it's taken such a big jump?” Kearney asked. Staff attributed much of the increase to specification gaps and items discovered only after opening the roof.
Staff told the committee they will revise procurement practices for similar maintenance projects, including creating a standard contract template for work that is not strictly professional services but is also not typical construction, to reduce change orders. “We have 1 for professional services, but another 1 for services that are not necessarily just professional, but not construction either, somewhere in between,” said Eric, describing planned changes.
The committee moved and seconded approval of the $82,600 change order and voted in favor. Staff indicated the change order will be processed and the project will continue under the revised scope.
Speakers on this item included Eric and Alden Kearney as well as committee members who moved and seconded the motion.
