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Trustees advance Joint Safety Services Building amid ongoing change orders and funding approvals
Summary
Trustees tracked steady construction progress at the Joint Safety Services Building throughout 2008, approved a series of change orders and related purchases (furniture, dispatch console, driveway work) and amended appropriations to cover carryover capital costs.
Construction of the Joint Safety Services Building (JSSB) dominated Norwich Township meetings through 2008 as the Board balanced schedule recovery, contract change orders and procurement of equipment and furnishings.
Construction manager Dick McDermitt regularly reported progress—basement waterproofing, poured concrete, steel and truss installation, and ultimately sheeted exterior walls and near-complete roofing—and warned early winter weather had set the schedule back by about a week to 10 days but that crews expected to regain time. Trustees repeatedly approved contractor change orders of varying sizes tied to scope adjustments and corrections; cumulative change-order approvals recorded in the minutes include amounts such as $88,015.42 (May 19), $76,876.58 (July 21) and subsequent packages totaling tens of thousands more through autumn. The Board resolved disputes over responsibility by asking for review meetings with design and oversight firms.
To fund the work and associated equipment, the Board amended appropriations in January to include $8.8 million in capital carryover related to the JSSB and later increased permanent appropriations to cover final construction accounting. Officials also approved multiple JSSB-related purchases: state‑term furniture ($139,444), a radio dispatch console to be shared with the City of Hilliard ($31,595), computer workstations, copiers and window treatments ($72,170.88), and an AT&T phone/internet proposal for local network and fiber needs ($37,978.95).
Site logistics and neighborhood impacts were also addressed. Trustees accepted dirt from the construction site for use at the fairgrounds and authorized paying the fairboard for grass seed and rental equipment ($4,000–$5,000) to cover restoration costs. A separate action authorized Franklin County to install the JSSB driveway entrance per the land purchase agreement at a cost of $41,054.89.
The Board pressed contractors for clarity on completion dates. By mid-November, the Township and contractor Altman agreed on a substantial-completion deadline no later than Dec. 15, 2008. Life-safety inspection and punch-list work followed; by early December the move into the new building was underway and temporary occupancy and utility hookups were being finalized.
The Board’s actions combined project management oversight with procurement approvals intended to ensure the facility opened with the required communications, dispatch and furnishings in place. Trustees emphasized the need for continued oversight of change orders and for transparent accounting of costs borne by the Township versus those the contractor or other parties would assume.
