Building project contingency strained after higher-than-expected security bid and unforeseen remediation costs

Washington County staff told the Building Project Committee that the building projects contingency has been largely consumed by change orders, environmental remediation and a much larger-than-anticipated security-system bill, and they proposed moving funds within the countys capital improvement program (CIP) to cover the shortfall.

The committee heard that 53 change orders have been submitted to date and accepted items tied to card-access upgrades and remodeling total about $335,000. Staff said environmental surveys and abatement work accounted for a significant portion of that amount, and an additional contaminated-soil find in the east parking area added roughly $25,000. "That was about a $25,000 pick up on cost there," the presenter said.

Why the security work cost more than expected was a central focus. Staff told the committee the card-access and camera systems were bid separately and that initial CIP planning used an outdated estimate (roughly $250,000). The separately bid system came in substantially higher; staff identified the bid at roughly $483,000 and said added functionalityincluding panic buttons, relocation of head-end panels, new cabling and tighter integration with sheriffdispatch and CCTVincreased labor and equipment scope. "We should have caught that a lot earlier," staff acknowledged to the committee.

Staff presented a budget model that shows about $60,000 remaining in the project contingency for the remaining phases and asked that the committee recommend transferring approximately $445,000 from another CIP project (electrical work at UWMWC, where bids and We Energies adjustments left available funds) to cover the $505,000 total need identified for the remaining work.

The staff presentation emphasized that the CIP transfer would be subject to county-board action. "That resolution means that that needs to go back to a committee and back to the county board," a staff speaker said, noting the public works committee had already reviewed the resolution. In the interim, staff said they will hold off on a separate generator project and use the remaining contingency so work can continue without a stop.

Committee members pressed staff on procurement and oversight. One supervisor asked why the project had not budgeted for a fuller security-system update and whether the scope growth could have been staged across phases; staff said a combination of outdated estimates, evolving department requests and separate bidding for the security package led to the present shortfall.

Next steps: staff will present the resolution to the county-board chair and county attorney for routing; if the county board does not meet before the new board is seated, the item may go to the executive committee or to the May board meeting. Until the board acts, staff said they have enough working contingency to avoid a work stoppage.

The project is continuing (phase-two work is scheduled to proceed), with staff planning further walkthroughs and refined estimates before drawing down additional CIP funding.