Wednesday, November 9, 2005
More change orders for the convocation center are to come, a city official says.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The city's board of control is expected Thursday to consider nearly $300,000 in change orders to its convocation center.
Of the 39 change order requests in front of the board, only one is for a cost decrease. The change orders total $298,379.
If the requests are OK'd Thursday, the board would have approved 106 change orders, of which 93 were to increase the center's cost, in a little more than a month. The 106 change orders total $818,263.
And there are more change orders to come, said Carmen S. Conglose Jr., the city's deputy director of public works.
The money for change orders comes from a $1 million contingency fund the city built into the cost of the area, projected to cost $45.38 million. The facility is open, but a final construction cost probably won't be available until December, city officials say.
City Finance Director David Bozanich said two weeks ago that there was about $250,000 to $300,000 left in that fund.
Conglose referred questions about the contingency fund balance Tuesday to Bozanich.
Bozanich couldn't be reached late Tuesday to see if the $298,379 in proposed change orders would deplete the center's $1 million contingency fund.
Other ideas
The city was considering using a portion of the contingency fund to erect a marquee on the recently opened center, Bozanich said two weeks ago.
As for the change orders to be considered Thursday by the board, Bruce & amp; Merilees Electric would receive $130,186 for four change orders.
With the four proposed add-ons Thursday, the New Castle, Pa., company handling electric work at the center would have 27 change orders that add $255,794 to its convocation center contract.
The city's board of control hired Bruce & amp; Merilees in August 2004 for $111,663 for underground electric work. The engineer's estimate on the work was $150,000.
skolnick@vindy.com