Ackerman Change Orders Violate Board Resolution

At our Dec. 1 board meeting we received a request for board approval of two change orders for ASC. Both of these change orders were already approved by Director Atwell and the work was finished. These change orders were made in direct violation of a board resolution requiring board oversight. The change order documents also show that staff has not yet disclosed the full extent of the change orders, despite my request in prior meetings for a full accounting.

So why does the change order process matter? Before we enter into a contract, we use an open bidding process to set the cost of the work. Bidding gives us cost protection through competition. If a contractor knows there will be change orders before they bid, they can lower their initial bid to win the work, knowing they will make up the difference in overcharges on change orders. The board is responsible for ensuring that any change orders are necessary, putting them to bid if appropriate and holding emergency meetings in the event that change order approval might hold up work.

When I brought up these issues in our last meeting, board counsel described this as a communications issue. The incumbent board members expressed no concern and praised staff for their good work.

As I have stated in earlier blog posts here and here, the Board does not know how many change orders have been made at ASC, and at what cost. The monthly sworn contractor statements from our construction management company show all change order amounts, but the Board has not seen these statements since May. I have repeatedly asked for these documents and have not yet received them.

According to a specific board directive from October 28, 2008, the Board must approve all change orders over $20,000 and change orders under that amount are to be reported to the Board on a monthly basis.

After I started asking about the ASC change orders a few weeks ago, two change orders appeared on the agenda for our last meeting. These change orders were for $10,515 from August and $37,388 from November. Though staff was requesting Board approval and the memo, pg. 4, was written in future tense, the work for both change orders had already been completed.

The $37,388 Earthwerks change order in our last packet, page 6, shows the original bid amount, the previously authorized change orders and the new change order. The previously approved Earthwerks change orders total $105,094.28 on this Nov. 16 2009 document. On the last sworn contractor statement I have, dated May 26,2009, Earthwerk change orders total $71,612,32. This shows that sometime between May and November, staff approved an additional $33,481.96 and never informed the Board.


For a project that is at least $3 million over the amount approved by taxpayers in the referendum, I believe it is critical to get a full accounting of the spending on ASC. I have still not received the ASC expenditure list that I have repeatedly requested. We need to learn what has occurred and protect ourselves from additional risk on this project.