Vigo County approves $381,232 in Spring Hill Road change orders; county to seek $340,320 from Frontier Communications

Vigo County commissioners on Jan. 28 approved 10 change orders (numbers 4 through 13) for the Spring Hill Road project that together add $381,232.14 to the contract.

The county engineer, Robbins, told the commission the change orders include utility-related delays, additional materials and work to protect utilities and structures, and added contract days. Robbins said the county intentionally deferred many change orders until projects neared completion to get final cost and day counts: "We purposely kinda put these change orders off till the end of the projects. We make sure we get final numbers for all these as well as days counted," he said.

The largest portion of the added cost—$340,320.58—was attributed to utility delays and escalation tied to Frontier Communications across multiple phases. The engineer listed several change orders and amounts: $29,104.11 (CO 4, Frontier standby delay in 2023); $79,299.82 (CO 5, Frontier-related cost escalation from 2022–2023); $48,396.83 (CO 9, 60-day standby in phase 2); $183,527.82 (CO 12, Frontier escalation 2023–2024); and smaller amounts for structure conflicts, additional pipe, and mobilization. Robbins said change order 11 (relocation of a sanitary sewer lateral near Honey Creek Fire Department) was needed to keep the fire department’s sanitary sewer in service.

Commissioners said they plan to seek recovery from Frontier. The county’s process, as described at the meeting, is for Indiana Department of Transportation (NDOT) to issue the final contractor payment, then audit the project and bill the county for any shortfall; the county would then need to pay NDOT and could pursue Frontier afterward. A county official said the Frontier-related delay costs are nonparticipating items and therefore would be borne locally rather than covered by the federal 80/20 project match.

The vote to approve change orders 4–13 passed during the meeting. Commissioners said they had documentation of communications and daily logs from RQAW and others showing when Frontier did not mobilize as promised. Several commissioners criticized Frontier’s responsiveness and urged caution when granting the company future permits or grant signatures.

The commissioners did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the motion was made and seconded and carried with the affirmative voice vote called.

Next steps communicated at the meeting: the county will sign the change orders so NDOT can issue final contractor payment, then NDOT’s audit will determine the county’s shortfall; county staff indicated intent to pursue Frontier for the identified $340,320.58 in nonparticipating costs.