Changes to arena contracts result in savings for project

The city also found a way to get a freight elevator installed at the center.
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Youngstown Board of Control approved almost $67,000 in change orders that officials said ultimately saved money toward construction of the Youngstown Convocation Center.
The board approved two change orders for Marucci & amp; Gaffney Excavating of Youngstown -- one for $37,430 and the other for $28,862 -- at its meeting Thursday. Both are additions to the original contract.
But Carmen Conglose Jr., deputy director of public works, explained the changes actually save money on the $42 million arena.
What changes are
The additional payments are for backfilling underground areas with clean material to replace debris such as rocks, bricks and foundations from old steel mill buildings the company already unearthed.
Conglose explained that instead of having the contractor remove the debris on a unit-price basis, the city tracked the actual hours worked and the amount of fill materials used.
He said the value of the extra work could have amounted to $100,000 more. But, by tracking the actual work and not submitting it for another bid, the city saved $62,570 on one change order and $21,138 on the second.
The city had an original $1.34 million contract with Marucci & amp; Gaffney to prepare the site between the Market Street and South Avenue bridges for the 5,500-seat arena.
Deal on freight elevator
Conglose said the problem of installing a freight elevator at the arena also was resolved thanks to negotiations with general contractor A.P. O'Horo of Youngstown.
The city twice solicited bids for the elevator installation. The first time, it received none; the second time a sole bid came in at $298,233, about $100,000 over the engineer's estimate.
To avoid soliciting bids a third time, Conglose said the city reached an agreement with A.P. O'Horo to pick up the elevator contract for an amount not to exceed $155,562. A.P. O'Horo will subcontract the job to Otis Elevator Co. The change order adjusted A.P. O'Horo's contract to $1,840,087. The controlling board also approved that measure.
The board also approved a request to make a severance payment of $9,663 to John McNally IV, the city's former law director, who left city government Dec. 31. McNally was elected a Mahoning County commissioner in November and took office Jan. 3.