Litchfield Approves $130,062 in Columbia Street Change Orders

Article Summary: The Litchfield City Council on Thursday, July 2, 2026, approved three change orders totaling $130,062.72 for the Columbia Street reconstruction project, covering unstable subgrade beneath the roadway and 988 feet of concrete curb that was left out of the original scope.

Columbia Street Change Orders Key Points:

• Total not to exceed $130,062.72 with Rooters Asphalt, funded from capital sales tax funds.
• Subgrade remediation accounts for $50,356.72; concrete curb replacement accounts for $79,706.
• The curb work covers removal and replacement of 988 feet of existing curb, plus backfill, seed and straw.
• Officials said reducing change orders is the central argument for the new director of public works position approved later in the same meeting.

LITCHFIELD — The Litchfield City Council on Thursday, July 2, 2026, approved a resolution authorizing three change orders for the Columbia Street reconstruction project in an amount not to exceed $130,062.72, adding roughly a third again to a job that officials said is now within two weeks of completion.

Alderman Dwayne Gerl made the motion. The resolution passed on a roll-call vote with no members opposed. According to the agenda packet, capital sales tax funds are available, and the city administrator, public works coordinator and street superintendent recommended approval.

The work splits into two categories. The larger piece, $79,706, covers concrete curb replacement. An additional work authorization from Rooters American Maintenance Inc. dated June 23, 2026, specifies removing 988 feet of existing concrete curb on Columbia Street, installing new curb, and backfilling, seeding and strawing the disturbed ground. The authorization notes it does not cover unforeseen underground conditions or utilities if found.

The remaining $50,356.72 covers subgrade remediation — removing, hauling off and replacing unsuitable soils from the roadway — documented in two separate work authorizations dated June 23 and June 24 totaling $29,361.59 and $20,995.13. Those authorizations bill laborers at $95 an hour and a superintendent at $125 an hour, with 3-inch minus rock at $29.70 per unit accounting for $15,880.59 and $12,887.13 respectively, plus trackhoe, skidloader, roller and tandem truck time.

Why the Extra Work

Vazquez told the council that change orders are an expected feature of large projects, but drew a distinction between the two items.

“Any large project, expect a couple change orders, because you get in there, there are some things that no matter how much core sampling you do, things are unforeseen,” she said. In this case, she said, “the curb replacement — that’s something that could have been reasonably foreseeable,” and she told the council she wished it had been in the original scope. Deferring it, she said, would mean tearing up new pavement in a few years at greater cost, and she called the contractor’s per-foot price fair.

The remediation was different. When crews milled the roadway, she said, “they found that the base was much more unstable than anticipated.” She said she went out with the street superintendent and watched the contractor proof-roll the surface: “There really wasn’t a rock face underneath there like had been anticipated.”

The resolution recites the city’s findings that the circumstances necessitating the change were not reasonably foreseeable when the contract was signed, that the change is germane to the original contract, and that it is in the city’s best interest.

Context: A Project Already a Year Delayed

Columbia Street and Jackson Street were both slated for reconstruction last year, Vazquez said, but the city pulled back after concluding the aging water mains beneath them — which had been breaking — needed to be replaced first, and applied Filer funds to that work. The street work followed this construction season.

Vazquez said crews should finish the pavement work next week and into the following week, leaving only decorative brick to be restored within the sidewalk. Bids on that brick work have been received and that contractor will follow, she said. “We are definitely near the finish line.”

Hughes pressed the point that change orders are inherently expensive: initial bids draw competition, he said, while change orders are time-sensitive and “cost the public more money.” Vazquez agreed.

Fleming used the item to preview the night’s administration vote. “This was $130,000, a change order that was unexpected that we had to do to do the job right,” he said, tying it to the $110,000 director of public works salary on the same agenda. “He’s not going to prevent all the change orders. You never know what you’re going to get sometimes, but he definitely can reduce the amount.”

Fleming also acknowledged that stop-and-start construction frustrates residents. “The public gets frustrated when they see a crew come in and then just stop, because this was not part of the original bid,” he said. “We had to stop, renegotiate and do the change order.”