At its July 16 meeting, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) approved two change orders for construction work on the county transit center project totaling $227,735.78.
At a BoCC work session earlier in the day, Public Works Director Mike Torres explained the reasoning behind the change orders.
He indicated that the first change order is a previously discussed change adding bay heaters for the bus bays at a cost of $76,903.32.
Torres stated that he had infrastructure for pressure washing removed from the change order since the county would not be moving forward with installing washing equipment in the bus bays.
He stated that the second change order is for additional blasting and rock excavation occurring in conjunction with two previous change orders for blasting and excavation.
The additional work will cost $150,832.46 on top of the previous change orders, Torres explained, adding that the construction company had to blast and do additional rock excavation on the foundation, the retention pond and the utility lines for the project.
He commented that it is “very unfortunate” that a chemical rock fracturing method the county initially tried was not successful and that he hopes that the blasting and excavation will be finished in the upcoming weeks.
Torres explained that the county also had hydrovac excavation performed to expose the utility lines in the area to ensure they are not damaged by the construction process.
“We all knew there was rock out there. Don’t ask me why it wasn’t planned that way, but, yeah, that’s where we’re at,” Torres said.
He explained that the project has had problems with the utilities for the Archuleta County Sheriff’s Office in the area, which were damaged repeatedly during the excavation work for the transit center, and that a third change order would pay for blasting to bury the lines deeper.
Commissioner Ronnie Maez asked why the lines were hit multiple times and why the workers at the site were not able to locate them after hitting them the first time.
Torres responded that the location of the lines was unknown, including to those involved in the initial construction of Harman Park who the county contacted.
He indicated that he now recommends that the county not move forward with this change order since it would cost $143,113.09 and that, following consultation with the contractor and architect for the project, he is planning to have these utility lines relocated to an existing trench, with the work likely being performed by county Road and Bridge staff.
Maez commented that he liked not moving forward with the final change order for utility relocation.
Torres added that utility lines would be properly insulated to ensure they do not freeze.
Commissioner Warren Brown asked how much the contingency fund for the project is.
Torres stated that the contingency is $250,000 and that the county is “just over” that amount currently.
In response to a question from Maez, Torres stated that he estimates that the county is potentially $30,000 over the contingency amount.
Torres then discussed two other change orders for the project, which were both under the amount that he is authorized to approve, including a change order paying for hydrovac work on the utility lines and a change order for modifying beams on the building to install a window.
He added that these two change orders have also contributed to the project exceeding its contingency amount.
Maez commented that the county should look into how so many issues were missed in the initial design of the project, leading to the large number of change orders.
“I agree,” Torres said.
“Good job, Mike. I appreciate you dealing with the headaches of it and staying on top of everything,” Maez said.
At the BoCC meeting, the board voted to approve the change order for heating in the bus bays at a cost of $76,903.32 without further comments.
Prior to voting to approve the change order for additional blasting at a cost of $150,832.46, Medina commented, “As we discussed this morning in the work session, we’ve pretty much blown through the contingent budget for this facility. I wasn’t happy with the location, but this decision was made prior to me, and I just want to commend Michael Torres on the great job that he’s done trying to manage and facilitate this project because it’s not an easy project. I’m just hopeful — and so the public knows as well — is that at the end of this project, whenever that might be at this rate, that there is an opportunity for the county to go back and request some additional funds for the extra funds that have been spent. So, I am hopeful that this will be hopefully a few less change orders in the future for this facility, but, again, I think you’re doing a fabulous job, Mike, and you got a great team working with you, so keep up the good work. I know this is a challenging project.”
Maez noted that there was no other site available to the county to place the transit center.
Torres stated that the county is seeking additional funding for the project from state grants and believes it has a “pretty good chance” of receiving the funds due to the project being shovel-ready.
He added that this grant application would be submitted Aug. 1.
“Thank you, Mike. Good job,” Medina said.
The board then unanimously voted to approve the change order.
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