Owensville elected officials toured the city’s new police station as a group Monday to prepare a “punch list” of items they want corrected before taking ownership of the $1.122 million facility.

While the building is essentially completed, several issues remain to be resolved with the general contract, Lawlor Construction. Pending are several change orders listed as “out of contract” on a May 3 report from the city’s engineer which are expected to add to the final price tag.

City Administrator Randy Blaske, who toured the building with the elected officials, said this past week there are up $90,718 worth of pending charges which are being negotiated between the contractor and Archer-Elgin, the city’s contracted engineering firm.

The city has approved $11,244.23 worth of changes throughout the contract period which began in September 2020.

Among those changes were $3,600 for using two colors of blocks on the exterior, $2,005.91 for soffit lighting, $3,249.67 for a transfer switch, $1,533.18 for additional costs to rough-in data cables, and $855 for staining wooden doors.

The city has also approved $7,348 for the installation of additional data cable, and $1,550 for a flag pole for a total of $20,122.23 in outside of contract costs.

Still pending is a potential nearly $45,000 to install keyless entry security controls on doorways throughout the building. As of May 3, the city’s engineer was waiting on a second quote for the work. 

The project will also require a foundation for the antenna being placed beside the east side of the building and a generator for the emergency management director’s office which is attached by closed off from the main building. Prices were not available in the report to the board at their meeting earlier this month and no updates were provided when aldermen convened Monday.

The city and its engineering firm are also in negotiations with the contractor on a request for up to $26,690 in additional costs due to increased pricing on lumber due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The city is disputing the additional cost, said Blaske, citing the original bid cost of the project.

However, according to the change order tracking list provided by the city, Lawlor is requesting they be compensated $18,798 for the “added labor due to materials selection” used in the project. Blaske said the request for $18,798 for the labor add-on could be subtracted if the increased cost of the lumber is absorbed by the city.

That would translate into $92,042.75 in costs added to the project through change orders with costs for the generator still pending.  

May 7 was the date listed for substantial completion. 

Blaske said it could be several weeks before the police are able to move in depending on how long it takes for the contractor to complete the punch list which was said to be “several pages” long.

Along with the keyless entry assemblies needing to be installed, windows on interior doors still needed to be installed in several locations. Delivery of the reinforced glass was expected to be one to two weeks away as of a May 3 memo to the city from their engineer.