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Change orders for the Warsaw Community High School building project total $277,971 as of the special school board meeting Monday, according to Director of Finance Kevin Scott.
The total includes the two current and the approximate 56 previous change orders the school board approved last night.
Joe Hoffman, with the project management company Construction Control Inc., said the first current change order relates to the support and foundations for the scoreboards for the new sports fields not part of the original bid. Total cost is $42,820.
The other change order, approximate cost $20,331, is necessary because buried topsoil was encountered at the new roadway extending from the southwest corner of Edgewood Middle School to Logan Street. Topsoil is detrimental to pavements and must be removed or bridged. The topsoil is approximately 4 feet in depth and is the full width of the road, extending at least 75 feet in length, according to an overview of the change order from CCI. The cost reflects an estimated cost of a Geogrid Fabric that will bridge the topsoil and allow it to remain instead of removal and replacement of unsuitable soils.
Dan Robinson, school board member, questioned when CCI knew about the scoreboards. Marc Garrett, CCI construction manager, said they found out last winter. If they had known prior to bidding, money possibly could have been saved on the work.
Looking over all the change orders, Warsaw School Board member Deb Wiggins said many of them have to do with soils. She asked what was happening.
Hoffman said they don't necessarily have good soil. Some of it was changed by previous work. "It wasn't good soil to set the foundation on." He said they had to excavate deeper to get to the good soil on some of the project. But he said everything they do is put on a suitable soil signed off by the engineers. Garrett said about 80 percent of the soil work for the project is completed.
Asked about the drainage around the track, Garrett said there is a water infiltration problem on the visitors' side that they are looking into.
The two current change orders were approved unanimously. The 56 previous change orders were approved on a 6-0 vote with board member Cathy Folk abstaining.
After weeks of wrangling over how to approve change orders for the high school project, the Warsaw School Board voted unanimously June 20 to have the entire board approve them.
At the May 16 school board meeting, the board voted to allow board member Dan Robinson and Warsaw Schools maintenance director Greg Schroeder to approve change orders up to $15,000. But at the next board meeting, Wiggins said that resolution had to be rescinded because it is in conflict with Indiana Code.
After considerable debate, Folk made a motion to have the entire board approve all change orders. The motion was approved.
Warsaw School Board members are president Ron Yeiter, Dan Robinson, Deb Wiggins, Tammy Dalton, Cathy Folk, Chuck Sauders and Gene England.
