The City Commission approved Change Order No. 2 to Service Authorization W-4-24 with Chen Moore & Associates in the amount of $314,372.50. The additional fee covers extra engineering design work, development of separate temporary traffic-control plans to meet FDOT’s accelerated schedule, additional FDOT-driven design reviews and city construction administration (construction engineering inspection) for utility relocations required by the FDOT roadway widening project along Alternate 19/Curlew.

Why it matters: The FDOT project’s design changes required the city to redesign or relocate water, sewer and reclaimed lines and to pay for city inspections that FDOT’s contractor will not perform. Commissioners pressed staff on why the city is absorbing these costs and whether any part of the change order could be recovered from FDOT.

Staff explanation: Clayton Watkins (Utilities & Engineering) and Martin Wade (project lead) explained that FDOT’s revised design — including a new stormwater/headwall design near Curlew Creek — created conflicts with city utilities and required a deeper water-main dip beneath the creek. That led to added engineering and CEI work that had not been in Chen Moore’s original scope. Staff said some items (temporary traffic control and inspection hours) were not included in the original scope and that the amount includes contingency for estimated on-site inspection time.

Commission response: Commissioners expressed frustration at recurring DOT design changes and asked staff to document the city’s additional costs and press FDOT on minimizing further changes. Commissioner DeGard called the $314,372.50 figure “a lot of money” but supported proceeding because the intersection improvements are critical. The motion to approve the change order passed unanimously.

Ending: Staff will continue to monitor inspection hours and to seek to limit further cost growth; they will report back to the commission if inspections or design revisions are lower than estimated and to pursue any possible cost recovery or negotiation with FDOT.