The Northborough Fire Station Building Committee on April 16 approved Amendment 8, which funds construction-administration (CA) services for the full design team for the project’s construction and closeout phases.

Presenters said the amendment covers 18 months of construction administration and two months of closeout. The CA proposal separates a base fee — covering architecture, civil, structural, mechanical/electrical/plumbing and fire protection — from supplemental services such as geotechnical, traffic and geothermal construction-administration work so the committee could see line-item costs. The proposal also includes an estimate of typical site visits by discipline and allowances for additional visits as needed.

Committee members asked whether Amendment 8 fits within the previously approved design-services allocation of $3,432,000 (the figure presented at the meeting). Project staff said Amendment 8 and prior additional services are being tracked within that overall design allocation and within separate budgeted line items; they reported that the core design-services allocation has been largely expended but that several contingency line items (audio-visual, geotechnical and others) remain unencumbered.

After questions about budget accounting and remaining contingencies, the committee approved Amendment 8. Staff said the design team’s construction-administration fee is intended to be an all-inclusive approach to carry the team through construction and closeout and that additional line items would be drawn from remaining budget categories if needed.

The committee voted to approve the amendment; the transcript records the motion and the vote as in favor but does not record a roll-call tally in the public minutes.