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Beach Haven council approves consent agenda amid concern over emergency operations center change orders
Summary
Council approved the consent agenda and a $540,767.97 bills list on May 28; members raised concerns about repeated change orders to the 2025 Emergency Operations Center renovation project and said staff was negotiating many items, but no additional action was taken at the meeting.
The Borough of Beach Haven council on May 28 approved a consent agenda that included personnel and administrative resolutions and several change orders tied to the 2025 Emergency Operations Center (EOC) renovations project. The council also approved a bills list totaling $540,767.97.
Resolutions listed on the consent agenda included Resolution 80 (appointment of Monica Johnson to provisional technical assistant, construction office), Resolution 127 (reimbursement for items inadvertently discarded by sanitation), Resolution 128 (authorizing an executive session to discuss potential litigation related to Atlantic City Electric/Pepco battery energy storage system), and Resolution 129 (a sidebar agreement with PBA Local 175 permitting limited use of vacation leave in season). The consent agenda also referenced a series of change orders for the EOC renovations project (Resolutions 131–135). The transcript shows multiple change-order dollar figures but several amounts appear garbled in the record; the transcript listed an overall project credit of $10,439.57 for one item but other numeric entries (as recorded in the transcript) are unclear.
During general discussion a council member said she would approve the consent agenda but voiced concern about seeing numerous change orders at successive meetings and the cumulative cost. Borough staff and other council members responded that many change orders are negotiated, some are removed, some reflect credits, and that the project is nearing completion; they noted a reported 1.9% change-order rate on the job and said a forthcoming change order may cover a full plumbing replacement.
All listed consent agenda items and the bills list were approved by recorded yes votes from the council members present. The council then moved into an executive session to discuss potential litigation; officials said no formal action would be taken in executive session or upon return to public session.
Why it matters: Repeated change orders on a capital renovation project can increase the ultimate cost to the borough and raise questions about bid completeness, oversight, and contingency planning. Council members’ concerns signal an interest in tighter contract management even as staff said they are negotiating many of the items and have documented credits.
What’s next: The executive session was scheduled to address potential litigation (Resolution 128). No additional public action or vote on the EOC change orders was recorded after the meeting.
