Thursday, February 17, 2000
Search on for stadium solutions
Managers will add more help
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County and its stadium project team took unprecedented steps Wednesday to try to bring the cost of building Paul Brown Stadium under control.
Besides paying $14.3 million to cover immediate cost overruns, county commissioners voted to:
• Hire a “construction project executive” to look out for taxpayer interests and help handle the massive amount of work associated with building the stadium.
• Extend the contract of construction auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers for the remainder of work on the football stadium and for the entire construction of the Reds ballpark.
• Eliminate changes to contracts — which was identified by the auditor as the primary reason for the cost overruns — unless they are vital to finishing the stadium.
• Adopt nine recommendations, suggested by the auditor, which will allow the county to keep closer tabs on the scope, cost and nature of work being done.
In addition, NBBJ Architects agreed to put three additional architects on the job, as well as an additional structural steel engineer, and additional mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers.
Project manager Turner Barton Mallow DAG also agreed to increase staff by approximately 15 people and bring in two senior executives to help expedite trade contractor work.
All of this additional personnel will add to the stadium bill, which is already expected to jump $45 million due to overruns.
“We were just operating too thin,” Hamilton County Administrator Dave Krings said. “There was just too much stuff to do.”
Despite the overruns, the county's financial consultant said there will be enough money coming in from the half-penny-on-a-dollar sales tax increase to pay the bills and finish building the two stadiums.
But some changes will be necessary when it comes to paying for the $180 million in public works improvements — things such as parking garages and roadways to connect the riverfront development. Ted Ricci, the county's financial expert with Public Financial Management, said sales tax revenue will generate the money needed if a combination of steps are taken.
The options include: reducing the scope of the public improvements or delaying their construction; issuing more bonds, called subordinate bonds that are inherently more risky and carry higher interest rates; locking into an interest rate now for bonds on the Reds ballpark, which will go to market this summer.
Mr. Ricci said he will be meeting with county staff over the next few weeks to determine the best course of action.
The county's auditor revealed Monday that the project was in trouble because of the rush to complete the stadium and a lack of oversight on hundreds of individual contract changes on the job.
But public officials and construction managers have been aware of the problems since fall.
Project Director Norm Getz of construction manager Getz Ventures said he and his staff have been monitoring the football stadium project even more closely since October, when they began to suspect problems with the change orders. “We've been concerned with keeping on it, which is why we've been focusing our efforts here,” he said.
Mr. Getz's firm was originally slated to handle the Reds ballpark but has since resigned from that job to concentrate on the football stadium. He said he has doubled his own time spent on site.
Getz also has a local, full-time staff led by Project Manager Dan Streyle.
Since October, the project team has approved only change orders deemed essential for the completion of the project, he said, adding: “There was no opportunity for any wish-list items.”
But often, those changes were approved before anyone knew how much they would cost.
Mr. Getz explained how:
A change in the project would be suggested, either so the project could meet building codes or to improve its design.
Project architect NBBJ would provide new drawings to reflect the change. Getz Ventures then would determine whether the change was needed and recommend to Hamilton County's Deputy Public Works Director John Michel to approve or deny the change.
If approved, Mr. Michel would direct the construction management team to make the change. The construction manager would then ask a contractor to incorporate the change into the contract.
But only then would the con tractor determine how much the change would cost.
Sometimes, Mr. Getz said, the work on the change order would be under way before the cost was determined.
“All we saw were documents, not dollars,” he said. “You look and see what (the change order) means in the ability to complete the project.”
Deciding whether to approve change orders only after the cost was determined would have slowed the project or would have required contractors to build the stadium as was originally planned only to rip up some of their work after changes were approved, Mr. Getz said.
There's still no firm handle on exactly how much more the stadium will cost. Hundreds of change orders are in the system, and it is unclear how many of them will be deemed vital to the project or how much they will cost.
“Everyone inside and outside of this room is dismayed by this news,” Commissioner Tom Neyer said at Wednesday's meeting. “But there is work to be done, and we will finish this project on time.”
Although the cost overruns are estimated at $45 million, taxpayers may get some of that money back. County officials will either negotiate with or sue members of its project team over costly changes that they determine are someone else's fault.
Mr. Krings said it could be as much as two years before it all gets sorted out.
“Obviously, we're going to have differences of opinion about who is responsible,” he said.
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