Commission approves $18,555 budget transfer for water‑treatment change order; project budget review recommended

The commission approved a budget transfer to cover an $18,555 change order on the city’s granulated activated carbon replacement project at the water treatment plant, staff said Thursday. The change order covers additional valves and concrete work needed to meet updated operational needs.

Superintendent Sean (surname in record) and other staff said the original project design included a single‑tank flow but operational realities require piping and valves that allow the utility to operate multiple tanks and isolate work areas. Staff said the contractor’s change order, prompted by those requirements and by site conditions (underground conflicts forced some valves above ground), raised the total project cost beyond the current line items and required a transfer from available grant and ARPA allocations.

The motion before the commission authorized an $18,555 transfer to close the funding gap and complete the contractor’s work. Staff said the overall GAC project had previously been funded with a mix of state funds and ARPA monies and that the change order represented a small increment relative to the project’s multi‑hundred‑thousand‑dollar scope. Commissioners asked for clearer future reporting on multi‑year projects and change orders.

Ending: The measure passed unanimously. Commissioners asked finance and utilities staff to provide clearer line‑item breakdowns for multi‑year capital projects and to flag future change orders for commission review when they materially affect original project budgets.