Bolivar aldermen approve $200,000 addendum for East Loop engineering

The Board of Aldermen voted to approve ordinance 41‑10, authorizing a second addendum to Great River Engineering’s existing contract for the East Loop North design. The addendum increases the contract by up to $200,000 to cover services staff and the engineering firm said were outside the original 2022 scope—including roundabout design work, additional permitting work tied to grant conditions, and final plan preparations.

Staff said the original scope assumed a standard intersection; when MoDOT required a roundabout, additional design hours and permitting followed. Great River Engineering representatives described their change log and said the $200,000 figure is an estimate of remaining hours under an hourly, not‑to‑exceed billing arrangement: the city pays only for hours billed up to the cap. “We estimate to complete and our overages or things that were out of scope, we land right at that $200,000 mark,” said Austin Hostetler, lead design engineer.

Council members asked for details about what work the addendum covers and whether earmarked HUD funds or other grants would reimburse soft costs. Staff said a HUD earmark of $2.5 million exists for the project and that earmarked funds could be used for design soft costs, noting that if the city halted design, the HUD earmark would still reimburse incurred soft costs.

The ordinance passed on a roll‑call vote recorded as seven ayes and zero nos. The addendum is structured as an hourly “not‑to‑exceed” amendment; staff said they will post change logs and remain able to halt further work if the board so directs.