The Oak Grove City Council approved a $92,848 change order for the new City Hall and fire station Feb. 23 to meet Minnesota requirements, but not without criticism over the cost and the number of project revisions brought forward.
City Engineer Chuck Schwartz said the changes were needed to comply with state law. The order includes modifications to water filtration, installation of a corrugated metal pipe beneath the concrete driveway serving the fire station and the addition of a hydrant on the south side of the driveway.
According to the meeting packet, the change order also includes new ductile iron fittings, a polyvinyl chloride water main and other related items.
Council Member Paul Tradewell questioned whether switching from plastic to concrete for new trenches significantly increased costs.
“It just seems like a lot right?” Tradewell said. “They’re already digging a hole, so you’ve already got the man hours and the digging is already gonna be done. So the only thing you’re really doing is replacing it with concrete.”
Council Member John West said the total included the connection for a hydrant extension and the hydrant itself but agreed the amount was high.
Schwartz said concrete structures tied to new filtration requirements were a significant expense within the change order.
Council Member Mike Wylie said he was dissatisfied, saying the design firm should have incorporated the state requirements earlier.
“I understand some of that stuff’s gotta be done, but it just seems like, what else did they not put in there that they’re gonna have to come back and say, oh guess what, you need this too, this is another thousand, this is another hundred,” Wylie said. “I mean, I’m not too impressed with this firm so far.”
Council Member Angie Bray Johnson said it felt as though items continued to be added to the project.
West said the city’s building committee has worked to limit additions and that staff initiated the requested improvements.
“Our staff came to them and said, this is what we wanna do,” West said. “It’s not like they’re coming to us and saying, we’re going to upcharge. We came to them.”
Wylie said if the improvements had been included in the original bid, they would have been paid for at the outset. He also said the city had made clear early in the process that it did not want a 25-year building plan.
Mayor Weston Rolf said the council has not approved every change order presented.
“Even some of the change orders that have come forward, we have voted against,” Rolf said. “I think we’re actually sitting in a pretty good position now.”
Rolf said a previous change order received majority support but was not unanimous, and that the council rejected another in late 2025, according to City Administrator Loren Wickham.
With this approval, five change orders related to the project have now come before the council, Wickham said.