Change order increases Booker T. gym costs $20K

The Booker T. Washington gym renovation costs increased nearly $20,000, officials were told during last Tuesday’s meeting of the Philadelphia Mayor and Board of Aldermen, and the meter hasn’t stopped running.

Paul Mitchell, an architect with Waggoner Engineering, presented aldermen with a change order totaling $19,517 after new problems were discovered with the gym floor.

“We found the cause of the rotting of the floor,” Mitchell said. “Once we took the floor up, we found a mud slab that runs all the way around the mortar of that playing surface. You have field dirt and water and termites that are coming up in the gap between those two areas.

“With this change order, we will go back in with a master seal product to go around with a non-shrink material to fill that in and make it water proof. You won’t have that problem again,” Mitchell said.

The change order will also cover the removal of all debris in the lobby area as well, Mitchell said.

The change order will cost $19,517, which will bring the total contract to $756,175, which is an addition of $62,524 since the job started.

Mitchell said another issue has been discovered that concerns support structures in the roof but he did not have a proposal at that meeting.

Aldermen passed a motion to accept the change order for the floor work.

Aldermen also approved the payment for five invoices to Waggoner for work that has been completed on the project which totaled $29,354.

When aldermen voted to proceed with the project in January, they said it would be paid pay for with money the city has received from the American Rescue Plan Act ARPA). If that money cannot be used for some reason, the city would pay the bill out of reserves and the General Fund, officials said.