The Governing Board of Benicia Unified School District unanimously voted to approve change orders for Benicia High School’s stadium renovation project, allowing it to address any unforeseen circumstances.

The project, one of the largest to be funded by the 2014 Measure S initiative, received an update from Bond Director Roxanne Egan. The scope for current change orders— the amount of work added to or subtracted from the original contract which could alter the original contract amount or estimated completion date— includes sewer modifications, an increased sewer slope, two Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant parking spaces in the lot beneath the tennis courts, concessional and restroom building modular changes, additional soil preparation for modular buildings and the removal of unforeseen hazardous materials from the site.

Egan says the sewer modifications have caused some delays, but the construction is proceeding well and is expected to be completed in the spring.

“We’re hoping not to have a delay in our estimated construction completion,” she said.

The discussion then gave way to an action item to allow the board to approve change orders in an amount that does not exceed 10 percent of the contract price for the team and storage buildings. According to Egan, the rationale was to allow minor construction changes due to unforeseen conditions or minor circumstances, enabling construction to proceed in a timely manner without the occurrence of delays or the need for additional board meetings.

President Gary Wing asked what the route for change orders was. Egan responded that it went to the inspector of record, then to her, then to the architect and then to Chief Business Official Tim Rahill and Superintendent Charles Young after prior approval. According to Egan, the goal is to see if the estimate is an adequate value.

Trustee Diane Ferrucci asked about the discrepancies between the various change order proposals.

“The one before, you were asking us for 3 percent,” she said. “Now you’re asking us for 10 percent.”

“Generally, 10 percent is the maximum that you can approve,” Egan responded. “In trying to give a comfort level in what we ask you for, we set different thresholds at different contract amounts to try to make sure that we keep you apprised and involved in what we’re doing.”

“Smaller dollar amounts can get to 10 percent much quicker than larger ones,” she added.

Trustee Stacy Holguin noted that the following item was something the board asked for at a previous meeting and then requested blanket numbers that were not to be exceeded.

“This is a long-term design for how to approve these not-to-exceed rates,” she inquired.

“Yes, and it can be adjusted as you feel comfortable,” Egan said.

Rahill noted that the first change order agenda item applies to the portables, team rooms, bathrooms and storage rooms, and the contract had already been awarded.

“That’s up to 10 percent, which does fall within the range of 13.2 (the following agenda item), since that contract was under the million dollar range,” he said. “It’s in line with 13.2, but we wanted a separate item on that because that contract has already been awarded.”

The board voted 3-0— trustees Peter Morgan and Andre Stewart were not present— to approve the change orders for the facilities as well as the following item, which allowed change orders not to exceed certain percentages within a given dollar range. These included a not-to-exceed rate of 10 percent for projects whose awarded contract is between $1 and $1 million, 5 percent for projects between $1 million and $5 million, and 3 percent for projects greater than $6 million.

Ferrucci asked if the board could receive reports on where the district is in the process as change orders come up. Egan said it would work on putting that together, and Rahill said change orders would be included in quarterly reports.

“I think it’s important that we’re kept up to speed on those dollars so that we’re aware as well and we don’t hear someone say ‘Oh my gosh, it exceeded,’” Ferrucci said.

In other business, the board unanimously approved the hiring of HY Architects for portable and tennis court replacement projects at Benicia Middle School, and BMS Principal Damian Scott as well as three middle schoolers delivered a presentation on the school’s new Viking Village active learning center.

The board will next meet Thursday, Oct. 20.