Change orders would reduce St. Charles Parish gym project costs by roughly $159,086; plaque sourcing debated

The capital improvements committee reviewed two deductive change orders June 22 that together reduce the budget for recent school auxiliary gym projects by approximately $159,085.99.

Johnny Rome introduced the middle‑school package: "If approved, this change order would result in a decrease cost of approximately $50,000, $49,348.68 with zero days added to the project," he said, explaining that the change order applies collectively to all four middle schools to capture economy‑of‑scale savings.

Murray Architects’ lead, Mike Tab, presented the elementary auxiliary gym change order — a net decrease of $109,737.31 with zero contract days added. Tab flagged a construction plaque line originally budgeted at $47,100 and said his team solicited local vendors able to produce comparable plaques for about $30,000, producing roughly $17,000 in net savings relative to the original scope.

Board members asked whether plaques are required by policy. Staff confirmed plaques are included by policy in some projects but explained that removing them from the contractor's scope and purchasing locally can avoid subcontractor overhead and yield savings; the committee discussed the policy requirement and cost‑benefit tradeoffs.

Next steps: staff opened the item for questions at committee and then moved the change orders to the full board agenda for approval at the upcoming meeting.