By a vote of 4-1 with Commissioner Garry Gamble casting the nay vote at the February 19 county board meeting, the board approved a change order of just over $64,000 on footing and foundation costs for the new Cook County Family YMCA being constructed on the west end of the Cook County Schools complex.
According to Wade Cole of ORB Management, the change order was necessary because the request for bids for footings and foundation went out before the final design was drawn. It will bring the contract with Hovland Inc. of Hermantown up from $350,000 to $414,031.89.
In a separate interview, Cole explained that the request for bids went out before the final design was drawn because the bidders were asked to include bids for both the footings and foundation of the new portion of the YMCA facility and the footings and foundation of the new hockey rink, which would be built first: “It was agreed that this project would be implemented utilizing a phasing process. This began with the owner request that the skating rink be done in fall of 2012 for this season. To accommodate that request, we needed to gather bidding information for that scope of work only, bid it out, and get the construction started. This happened concurrently with the rest of the design being worked on. In order to maintain efficiency and continuity with mobilization and construction activities, we moved into Phase II for the installation of the footings and foundations. Timing was critical, so if we had most of the information but not all we were still OK with moving ahead with what the design team could give us.
“This is a colossus effort to keep all the balls being juggled in the air.”
The cost of the change order will come out of the project’s contingency funds. In a memo to Cook County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers, Cole said, “The breakdowns of the costs are within market value and are reasonable charges for this work.”
Staying within budget
The Community Center Steering Committee will meet on February 25 to discuss re-bidding portions of the next phase of construction as they decide what reductions to recommend in order to bring the project back within budget. Their recommendations will be brought to the county board on February 26.
“We really need to decide which way we’re going to go,” said Commissioner Sue Hakes, “and the decisions aren’t going to be easy.” She said she believed they would have the information they needed on the 26th to “make a sound decision,” however.
Warming house
The Cook County Hockey Association, which is spearheading the building of a new warming house for the rinks outside the current Community Center and putting $28,000 toward their cost, is considering a stick-built building rather than one pre-built by a garage company and putting it between the two rinks.
“They really are dedicated to doing it right,” Commissioner Sue Hakes said, “and they’re excited about it.” The project will need the approval of the county board before it moves ahead.
Wade Cole told the board he thinks it will soon be time to hold another public meeting to give the community an opportunity to learn about and discuss the progress of the YMCA facility.
Leave a Reply