City Commissioners approved a contract change order for the fire station infrastructure projects during their May 7 meeting.

The change order is for $32,717.68 on the contract with James Talcott Construction and the project is using American Rescue Plan Act funds, which are federal COVID relief dollars.

Commissioners awarded the construction contract in April 2023 and construction began in June 2023.

City Commission approves $2.73 million contract for fire station upgrades [2023]

At the start of construction, the project team agreed to hold on work at Station 4 in Fox Farm to account for any scope or budget overruns at the other three stations since Station 4 had substantial work in 2019, according to city staff.

“As work has progressed, the project team has identified numerous opportunities to optimize the functionality of Fire Stations 1, 2 and 3 by changing the designs of certain infrastructure items and completing items that were not included in the original scope. The construction crew also encountered many unknown obstacles over the course of the project that needed to be accommodated for, including additional asbestos containing materials, plumbing issues, and old, abandoned features within the walls and ceilings,” according to city staff.

City approves design contract for fire station upgrades [2022]

As the budget for the other three stations increased, the budget for Station 4 decreased.

But over the winter, the boilers had Station 4 had a number of issues that needed to be addressed so the project team decided that other items at Station 4 could be handled later but the boiler needed to be replaced now, so the contract change accounts for replacing the boiler and electrical panel and removing the other project scope items at Station 4.

The original contract was for $2,731,200.

The scope of work for:

• Station 1 increased by $209,179.71
• Station 2 increased by $6,994.36
• Station 3 increased by $29,058.72.
• Station 4 was decreased by $212,515.11

These changes increase the total contract amount to $2,763,917.68, an overall increase of approximately one percent of the original contract amount, according to city staff.

Fox Farm fire station reopening soon [2021]

The change affects the city’s overall ARPA allocations, but as other projects came in under budget, there are unallocated funds to cover the increase, according to staff.

There was no public comment on the change order, which commissioners approved unanimously.