Fife council approves $300,000 increase, establishes $2.64 million budget for Colburn Park splash pad

The Fife City Council voted unanimously Jan. 28 to establish a new project budget of $2,636,658 for the Colburn Park splash pad and to authorize staff to include an additional $300,000 in the quarter‑1 budget amendment.

The splash pad has been a top community request since 2015. Assistant City Manager Megan Gendrick told the council the city secured $918,000 in Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) funding and $308,000 in lodging tax funds for the project, but bids and unforeseen site conditions pushed costs above the original budget. Gendrick said the first bid in May 2024 arrived at about $2.4 million; a later bidding round produced four bids ranging from approximately $2,561,000 to $3,980,000, prompting a prior $500,000 council increase in September 2024 when the contract was approved.

Gendrick described several unanticipated items that raised the price during construction: significant on‑site water that required daily pumping into a 12,000‑gallon tank because concurrent roofing work routed additional runoff to the site; an inconsistency in bid documents that required installation of a seventh set of StormTech drainage chambers; and geotechnical testing that showed previously stockpiled excavated fill—about 700–1,000 cubic yards—was too wet to reuse and therefore had to be hauled off or otherwise remediated. She said initial estimates to remove and replace that material approached $110,000 before contractor adjustments and reuse discussions.

Gendrick also said state funding rules and tribal consultation affected onsite work. The contracted cultural‑resource consultant, Equinox Research and Consulting International, produced a survey with no adverse findings, but the tribe that reviewed the plans required an on‑site archaeological monitor for any digging deeper than 3 feet. Gendrick said the monitor cost about $1,250 per day and the project had scheduled 42 such monitoring events. The city engaged a geotechnical engineer during construction to test soil compaction frequently because Fife’s low‑lying, loamy soils presented additional water and compaction challenges.

Council members pressed for details on costs and timeline. Council member Wolfram asked about landscaping; Gendrick replied that an additional 25 trees are planned for phase 2. Deputy Mayor Murphy and others asked whether the tribe’s monitoring requirement was typical; Gendrick said the tribe introduced the requirement during consultation after reviewing the monitoring plan and that responses vary by project and funding source. Council member Holsey questioned why the contractor and engineers had not prevented some issues; Gendrick and others described extensive on‑site mitigation and cost‑reduction work by Neeley Construction and city staff and said some conditions were genuinely unforeseeable until excavation began.

The council motion, made at the Jan. 28 meeting, directed staff to establish the new project budget and to include the additional $300,000 in the quarter‑1 budget amendment; it also authorized the city manager to approve change orders within the project budget. The motion passed unanimously.

Gendrick said the requested $300,000 would stop ongoing daily losses the city had been tracking and that, after the amendment, the project would retain a contingency of $65,871 for remaining unforeseen items. She told the council that the city had purchased a former school district maintenance yard adjacent to Colburn Park to allow future phase‑2 expansion and that crews removed structures early so future utility hookups could be installed without later disturbing a completed phase 1.

Councilmember Gathers, who made the motion, and Councilmember Fagundes, who seconded it, joined five other council members in the unanimous vote. Gendrick said Daniel Smith of Neeley Construction was attending virtually and would answer contractor questions if needed.

The council asked staff to provide a project timeline and milestone report showing grant deadlines, construction milestones and remaining funding requests so council and the public can track whether state or federal funding deadlines present risks to the project. Gendrick said city staff would return with that information.