Pine-Richland approves change orders totaling $69K for Field 6 project
Share this post:
The Pine-Richland school board unanimously approved just over $69,000 in change orders during its Sept. 13 meeting for its ongoing Field 6 project.
Before Monday’s vote, the board had already approved $44,817 in change orders for the project that began in June, bringing the project’s new total to around $2.8 million.
The school district did not incur new debt for the project, which is part of its 10-year capital funding plan. It received a $500,000 grant, split in $250,000 installments, from the Redevelopment Authority of Allegheny County’s Gaming Economic Development Fund.
The bulk of the recent $69,000 in change orders included work to correct Pine-Richland Middle School’s feeder panel, which district officials said was improperly installed in the 1990s. That particular project is necessary because the electrical panel will serve as Field 6’s power source.
The feeder panel project had been estimated to cost $84,500. The change order called for an increase of $46,500, bringing the total to $131,000 – a 55% increase.
“This change order, I realize change orders happen, this one is under my skin because we paid engineering to look at this one … just for the feel of us all, why couldn’t they inspect that box?” said school board member Greg DiTullio, who also serves as chair of the district’s building and grounds committee.
Director of facilities management Jeffrey Zimmerman acknowledged the panel box was “a concerning miss” and that the company hired to inspect the panel box would have had to take apart the entire panel to find the problem.
“It was only when the electrician pulled the whole guts of the panel out and started pulling wiring in, that they noticed what was actually in the panel wasn’t what was spec’d out in the drawings in 1996 and signed off on by the building inspector and the project manager back then,” Zimmerman said.
He said the contractor hired for that portion of the project, McCurley Houston Electric Inc., was able to drop the change order’s price by $15,000.
Field 6 involves the installation of synthetic turf, new athletic field lighting, a concession stand with restrooms, a warm-up area and a storage building. When finished by late October, it will replace a grass practice field about two-thirds its size, said Rachel Hathhorn, the district’s director of communications.
The field will not replace Pine-Richland Stadium.
Hathhorn said the field’s development came after a 2016 study of the district’s athletic facilities and fields. She said it will be used by the high school’s marching band, physical education classes, athletics, after-school clubs and community events.
The school board hired TPK Inc. in March to be Field 6’s general contractor.