Board declines new high school change order tied to underground spring; directs staff to renegotiate

The Woodford County Board of Education on Oct. 27 declined to approve a contractor change order tied to an underground spring discovered during construction of the district’s new high school and directed district staff to continue negotiations with the construction team.

Mr. Smith, the district’s project presenter, summarized the outstanding punch‑list items and said crews are focused on resolving HVAC and control issues. He told the board the combined contingency balance for phase 1 and phase 2 of the project is approximately $802,000.

Trace Creek Construction representative Travis Curry told the board the spring was first raised in a proposal request in June 2023 and that pricing was submitted that month. “Based on what I found in communicating with Clay,” Curry said, the proposal went through revisions and then was closed after the wet spot dried up in December 2023.

Civil engineer Michael Mays described a two‑part remediation plan: a French‑drain/perforated pipe in a swale adjacent to the bus loop and a spring box under a small paved area intended to route water to the nearest drainage inlet. He told the board that doing both parts A and B gives “about a 95%” likelihood of resolving the recurring wet spot when the subsurface becomes inundated.

Several board members pressed the design and construction team on why the issue was not fixed when it first appeared and whether the contractor or design team should bear a portion of the cost. One board member said the district missed a lower‑cost opportunity when the wet spot had dried and the work could have been done before asphalt and final grading were in place.

Curry responded that Trace Creek is not willing to cover the change order cost but said the firm would review whether it could absorb a portion of the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) fee associated with the work and report back to the superintendent.

After discussion the board moved to not approve the change order and to direct the superintendent and project manager to continue conversations with Trace Creek and return with a revised change order reflecting any negotiated adjustments. The motion carried in an affirmative vote; board members did not adopt the change order as presented.

Next steps noted by the board included receiving any negotiated fee concessions, scheduling the remediation work to avoid heavy winter constraints on asphalt plants, and returning with an updated cost and timeline. The board’s action stops the current change‑order approval and tasks staff with exploring alternatives and potential cost sharing before any funds are committed.