Council approves Timberlane Green change order after engineer certifies quantities; resident questioned arithmetic

Beachwood City Council approved Change Order No. 1 for the Timberlane Green Sanitary Sewer Phase 1 project at its Dec. 16 meeting after a detailed exchange between a resident, the project engineer and staff.

During public comment Howard Klein raised concerns about the change‑order figure in the project memo by the city’s outside engineer (Mr. Cooney), saying the memo showed an additional $237,088.94 while his own reading of the document suggested about $572,000 in extra costs and requested that the original contract be included in the agenda packet for clarity. Council members asked for clarification on who received funds and whether amounts tied to the contractor were properly documented.

Project engineer Mr. Cooney (referred to in the hearing as Chuni/Cooney) responded that his memo’s numbers are certified and that final contract quantities — measured by lineal foot, square foot and cubic yard — yield a final contract of $5,023,290.11. He explained that when crews dig in the ground there are legitimate overruns and underruns versus bid estimates, and that for items not covered by bid line items the city negotiated fair prices. Public Works Director Chris Arrieta noted the work had been verified and that the MCIP program would cover roughly half the added amount.

Council then approved the change order by roll call. Council asked staff to finalize accounting details and return with a reconciliation and a report on when the additional work was authorized and paid.

Next steps: Public Works will finalize payment to the contractor and prepare a follow‑up report for council with line‑item reconciliation and MCIP reimbursement details.