WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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The construction of a new water pumping station came in at about $260,000 under budget, according to officials at a Bloomington Utilities Service Board meeting on Feb. 24.
Michael Hicks, the Utilities Department’s capital projects manager, submitted a change order on the $6.5 million project.
“The project is complete and with the approval of this change order we can close out the project with our contractor,” Hicks said.
The construction was performed by the Orleans-based company Layne Incorporated, but the engineering was done by the Kansas-based company Black and Veatch.
Adam Westerman, from Black and Veatch, said the project did not cost as much as expected, in part because the contractor didn’t spend its full budget for items like office supplies, equipment, and furniture.
Board member Jason Banach asked Westerman about the city paying for a contractor’s supplies.
“Is this something we typically pay for, their pens and pencils?” Banach asked.
“We’ve handled it different ways historically, but for the past eight years we’ve taken on the cost of that,” Westerman said, “And anything left comes back to the city.”
The board later voted unanimously to approve the change order.
