Berkeley Heights Municipal Complex Change Order Hits $147K, With More Costs Expected

Part 1 of our Coverage of the 08/11 Berkeley Heights Town Council Meeting

As we did with the last Berkeley Heights Council Agenda; we’re going to break out some of the items to their own articles with a compilation of what’s left in a final for the meeting on 08/11. Even if you’re not from Berkeley Heights, it’s important to follow the coverage of its council (along with what we write on NP and Summit) as there are often items that pertain to where you may live in what you can look for and ask.  It also shows that Councils all follow a bit of a cadence that is similar to one another.

With that said, this article is going to cover Resolution 271which would approve another ~$147K for the municipal complex – a building that’s been controversial, costing and leaking since it was built.

The resolution approves Change Order 200 with Epic to replace coping stones for portions of the building, which involves making new limestone coping with a different profile for the gable and front gutter parapets.

The connected proposal from Gladstone has the gable limestone at $107K, the front stones at $18K and $8500 for stone design.

Epic adds more to the cost for bonding, insurance, redeveloper fees, contractor overhead and profit.  So the breakdown…

-Base:$127,442.70

-Front parapet: $19,861.20

Change Order Total: $147,303.90.

But that total isn’t where the ceiling might end up being

Epic’s own change-order throws in labor, scaffolding and hoisting, equipment and supplemental materials including flashing, mortar and caulking as additional costs they’ll put in for later on.

The Gladstone proposal doesn’t include disposal, dumpsters, testing, permits and any alterations/deviations involving extra costs would be charged above the proposal amount.

So the Council isn’t being asked to approve the complete cost of this work on August 11 only $147,303.90 of it with more likely to come.

But we aren’t done digging through this just yet; there’s another piece buried in the paperwork.

Epic has it so that this stone work isn’t part of the repair settlement agreement, so the Town is on the hook for the 25% deposit and progress payments. The settlement agreement isn’t part of the agenda packet online, the attached docs don’t get into the problems that agreement covers, what work Epic is responsible for or why stone replacement isn’t covered.

The documents also dont indicate whose responsible for whatever situation led to the new stones being needed and why the current coping has to be replaced.

During the 07/21 meeting, former Councilwoman Kingsley raised concerns about the building that included leaks, smells, construction problems and other issues and asked the Council to improve transparency and accountability of major commitments connected to tax-payer dollars.  The documents we see in this packet show additional work is now being considered, but they don’t say whether this work connects to Kingley’s concerns.

We should also bring up the history of what has become the Town’s most infamous building.

The redevelopment agreement originally established a Guaranteed Maximum Price of $26,828,574. This resolution walks through a long series of prior change orders that both increased and reduced that amount. By Change Order 019, the listed project GMP  reached $28,428,447.94.

Change Order 200 would increase what the resolution calls the amended project GMP by another $147,303.90.

The CFO’s certification says sufficient funds for the change order are available in account C9-00028 (it’s not signed or dated).

During the meeting,  the Council can explain what the Repair Specification Settlement Agreement covers, why this work falls outside of it, why the existing coping is being replaced, who’s responsible for the underlying condition and how much the Township expects to pay once the additional labor and material costs already referenced in the documents are submitted.

Because right now, $147,303.90 isn’t the final price-  it’s just the amount currently in front of the Council while Epic says additional costs will be submitted later.

Source Documents

Related:
Berkeley Heights Police Expansion: Former Councilwoman Calls for Transparency & Accountability