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Change orders are nothing new in construction projects like the one taking place now at Jamestown High School.
The Jamestown Public Schools Board of Education held a special meeting on Thursday to approve a $260,000 change order for the renovation project at JHS after two unforeseen issues were found in the JHS cafeteria kitchen. The problem the school district faces isn't financial. The district had set aside $3.6 million for change orders on the project, with $1.2 million remaining. The additional money won't be coming out of local tax dollars. There won't be a future tax increase to pay for the work and the district won't have to take out another bond issue to pay for the work.
Realistically, the reason for the rush is time. Unforeseen issues are commonplace in construction projects, but not all projects have to work around a hard and fast end date like the first day of school. That's the reason the school board needed to call a special meeting to approve the change order. The amount to fix the sanitary line under the kitchen and the floor under a refrigeration unit is more than the state Education Department allows without state approval. The state has to issue a notice to proceed with the contractor, who will confirm the final schedule impact and relay it to district administrators. It's expected the issues will delay the project by about three weeks and will impact kitchen and food preparation for the beginning of school.
Dr. Kevin Whitaker, district superintendent, said the JHS cafeteria will be open when school starts in September, but the delay will impact food preparation. It's expected the issues will delay the project by about three weeks and will impact kitchen and food preparation for the beginning of school. Food service teams will prepare outdoor grilled meals while the school continues its partnership with Domino's as well.
The news could have been worse regarding the change order at the high school. These are the things that happen when trying to move 20th century buildings into the 21st century – but at least the project was conceived well enough that the only impact on local residents is time and a few weeks of inconvenience.