Council approves change order, bid solicitation for Travers Park
SANDPOINT — The City Council has approved the solicitation of bids for construction of an inclusive playground and splash pad at Travers Park.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Jason Welker, community planning and development director, shared some of the equipment recently purchased for the park. Since the solicitation was unanimously approved, a pre-bid meeting was expected to take place Friday. The city plans to have a contractor signed on to the project in May and break ground in June, Welker said.
The council also approved a change order and amendment to an agreement with Ginno Construction for construction of the James E. Russell Sports Center at Travers Park. Unforeseen contract changes brought about a new guaranteed maximum price, leading the city to request approval of a budget change. These changes include enlargement of a garage door to accommodate future maintenance equipment, and addition of asphalt paving on an existing pathway to comply with ADA accessibility requirements, among other changes. One change, a switch from glazed to solid windows for select areas, resulted in a nearly $7,000 credit to the project, Welker said
The previous approved contract amount was $7,283,339.35, while the new amount would be $7,370,040.50. The project has been budgeted for with funds from the James E. Russell Family Donation and the city’s Parks CIP budget.
Councilor Kyle Schreiber questioned the change order, asking where the additional funds are coming from.
“It was my understanding that this was the second time we’ve had a change order,” Schreiber said. “We’re up to, what, almost $400,000 in changer orders at this point, which is much more than the contingency that we had. I was under the impression that we used up our entire contingency last change order.”
While Welker said the city has exceeded the $200,000 contingency, it is able to fund the necessary changes with interest earnings.
“So we’re still within the original gift amount when you take into account the interest earnings,” Welker said.
The project has been funded by a $7.5 million gift from the James E. Russell family. In the meantime an endowment fund was created with the donation to generate interest money. The fund is expected to support future maintenance, operations, and capital improvements for the sports facility and the adjacent Gateway Plaza.
Additional necessary excavation was the most significant change, costing $58,566.43. This cost was also concerning to Schreiber. Welker said that the discovery of extra sawdust below the surface could not have been predicted prior to the start of the project, but it’s highly unlikely that the city will see another change order of that significance before the project is finished.