Berkeley Sewer Project Went $210,400 Over Budget

Heartland Construction will receive an extra $210,400 for removing concrete from pipes during a sanitary sewer project in the 4700 through 4900 blocks of Berkeley Boulevard this past summer.

The Whitefish Bay Village Board approved the change order Monday night. The original contract totaled $888,719, with an additional 5 percent contingency budgeted for unexpected conditions, totaling $933,155. With the change order, the contractor will now receive $1,099,199.

Village Engineer Dan Naze said his office agreed to pay the contractor for an additional 20 days of labor, equipment and materials after discovering the sanitary sewer pipe was encased in a concrete monolith, presumably due to existing soil and ground conditions and the construction methods used at the time of installation. The concrete surrounding the pipe was at least 7 feet wide and continued from Wilson Drive to Hampton Road.

As a result, the contractors had to spend extra time and equipment toward excavation and backfill. Naze said the change order was necessary to move forward with the project.

"If we had just stopped work, we still would have ended up with a 90-year-old sewer system," he said.

Some of the additional $210,400 will be taken from the balance of borrowed funds budgeted for sanitary sewer projects last year, and about $120,000 will likely be taken from the funds borrowed in 2011 for a PPII reimbursement program.