By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post
The Hays USD 489 school board approved change orders for the Hays High School softball field on Monday night.
The board tabled change orders on the high school so they could speak about them further with representatives of its architectural firm, DLR Group.
The change orders for the softball field include a dugout similar to the HHS baseball fields. The dugouts were planned as chain link, and now they will be CMU dugouts with roofs.
Extra lanes for the bullpen and batting cages, electrical upgrades, and infrastructure for a grandstand and pressbox were also added.
Superintendent Ron Wilson said the administration plans to bring a plan to add the grandstand and pressbox to the field as a capital outlay project.
The changes will allow all of the softball players to practice at the same field.
The cost of the softball upgrades is $228,000. These funds will be taken from the Hays High School bond contingency fund and will not increase the overall budget for the Hays High project.
The other order, at a cost of $208,000, was for structural and finish changes identified as construction progressed.
These types of changes are very common on large construction projects, Wilson said. They account for a fraction of the project's total $100 million cost.
The change order cost will be paid from the contingency fund and will not increase the total cost of the Hays High School project.
The Hays High School project continues to be on schedule, and the school is set to open in August.
The Nabholz Construction representative said some plan revisions are only identified once construction begins. This can require minor modifications to the architectural drawings. A $1 million contingency fund has been built into the HHS project budget to allow for these anticipated changes.
Even with structural and softball change orders, more than half of that contingency fund will remain.
School board members questioned why any changes needed to be made and expressed frustration that the school district needed to pay for the change order.
The Nabholz representative said the number of change orders and design adjustments were consistent with a project of the high's shool's size. He said some of the changes were structurally important to complete the building.
Wilson, who has also been involved in two other bond-funded projects in his career, said change orders are to be expected, and the requested change orders align with the project's scope.
"This is a $100 million high school," he said. "You are thinking very small right now."
He said Nabholz, the district construction manager at risk, has 20 to 30 full-time staff managing all the project details.
"I don't think you are giving them enough credit," Wilson said.
Board member Jayme Goetz said she did not think the school district should have to foot the bill for the whole change order.
She said she thought DLR should be present to discuss the change order.
The Nabholz representative said there could be more change orders but added he thought most of the design change orders had been addressed.
The Hays High project is more than 55 percent complete, he said.
The high school change orders were tabled to be considered at a special meeting that would include representatives of DLR.
The softball field change orders were approved on a vote of 5-2, with board members Allen Park and Derek Yarmer voting against.