At the Aug. 18 District 65 board meeting, the Board of Education voted to approve a change order that raises the Wagner concrete contract for the Foster School construction project to a new total of $1,443,098.

District construction staff and the district’s owner’s representative described months of negotiation with a general contractor and a concrete subcontractor over quantities and whether certain work was within the original bid scope. Staff said the subcontractor’s original invoice was reduced by more than $40,000 through negotiation before settlement.

The board approved the change order by roll call vote after a motion and second. Board members Anderson, Wilkins, Pinkard, Updike, Weimer and Hernandez all voted yes on the motion to approve the change order.

District staff said the project remains under budget and that the construction contingency stands at about $1,750,000; they noted there are multiple contingency and allowance funds that can be used with board approval. Staff also said bid group 5 (the final major bid group) had been received and that recommended bid approvals would be presented to the board in September.

The board also discussed providing a rolling accounting of change orders and contingency impacts; staff said they could provide more detailed contingency tracking to the board as the project moves toward completion.