The Mulberry City Council voted to approve Change Order No. 1 for $856,515 to add approximately a half-mile of 1962, 16-inch transmission pipe to the ongoing water system project and also approved Amendment No. 1 to Task Order No. 1, increasing engineering compensation by $53,738 to Moore Engineering for staking, inspection and record drawings.

Council members said the additional pipe runs from the southwest corner of the cemetery up to the golf course and was included in original design and environmental clearance. On the phone, Jared, the city’s consultant, described the work and funding shift: "This change order would be to add that half a mile of pipe into their contract." He told the council the asbestos cement pipe is about 62 years old and that replacement is prudent rather than leave the aging line in place.

The council underscored timing and funding factors. Jared said the city had set up roughly $11.3 million in a funding package using American Rescue Plan money to cover three related projects; FEMA funding later became available for the third project, and the mix of grants changed. Heather told the council the state indicated it would take back $448,000 of its grant if the work were not awarded by Dec. 31, creating urgency to authorize the change order.

Because suppliers and subcontractors could not be reached over the holidays, Jared asked the council to approve a temporary 10% allowance over the original bid price, with the expectation of submitting receipts later and deducting any overage: "We just agreed we would add 10% to this... and then once they provide those receipts, we would expect to do a deductive at some point." He said that the 10% is a conservative allowance and that actual prices may come down once invoices are produced.

The two measures passed by roll-call vote with all members recorded as voting yes. The council also heard that the engineering amendment will add about a month to the construction schedule to accommodate staking and inspection work. No public comment was recorded on this item.

The council’s next procedural steps will be contract administration: issuing the change order to the contractor (Crow River was identified in the packet) and executing the amended engineering task order with Moore Engineering. The consultant said the city will reconcile supplier receipts and adjust final payments accordingly.