Norfolk council approves two change orders, authorizes softball bid advertising

Norfolk — The Norfolk City Council on July 20 approved two construction change orders and authorized staff to advertise for bids on a proposed softball complex.

Wastewater: Rob Holly of the wastewater division described change order #3 with JT Jones Construction for the water pollution control plant GRIT improvements, resulting in a net increase of $69,907 to add owner-requested items including intrinsically safe barriers for VFDs and PLCs, trench-drain cleanouts, an intrinsically safe flow meter ($32,544 listed), and other equipment adjustments. Holly said the original contract was $9,378,000 and that change orders are approximately 3% to date. He told council the GRIT system is expected to be online by October, with final project completion around March next year. The council voted to approve the change order.

Streets: The council also approved change order #1 to Oldcastle Materials Midwest Company for the 2025 asphalt overlays, increasing the contract by $147,217.40. Staff said the addition adds two mill-and-overlay street segments (5th Street from Brosh to Prospect and Brosh Avenue from 7th to 5th) and a roughly 35-foot mill/overlay area near a bridge abutment on North Fork Avenue to smooth steel plate approaches. The vendor total cited after the change order would be $1,847,134.38. Staff explained the contractor pricing is unit-based (tons/square yards) and that oil-price changes influenced recent unit prices. Work is expected to start at the end of July.

Recreation: On a separate item the council authorized advertising for bids for the Tazuca Softball Complex improvement project. The presenter described the bid package (earthwork, grading, field construction, irrigation, lighting, sidewalks, landscaping) and said staff hopes to advertise in August with a September bid opening. The presenter cited usage growth at the city’s complexes (from roughly 1,200 scheduled games/practices in 2017 to more than 2,400 in 2025) and increased concession revenue as justification; public commenter Sasha Bone urged continued investment in youth recreation and said one new field was welcome even if more would be better.

All three items carried on council votes recorded by the clerk.

Why this matters: the wastewater change order covers safety and equipment additions on a multi‑million-dollar upgrade; the street change order expands the overlay project to fix identified problem segments; and the softball bid authorization is an early procurement step that will determine final project costs when bids are opened.