Teton County lets staff approve Justice Center change orders up to $100K

Teton County commissioners approved a March 3 resolution delegating limited change-order authority for the Teton County Justice Center to the county’s director of general services. Under the resolution, the director may execute Justice Center change orders that have no fiscal impact, or that draw on county-held construction contingency funds up to $100,000 per change order, as long as the work stays within the project scope and budget and the county-approved total does not exceed $2 million. Larger change orders (over $100,000) must still come back to the Board of County Commissioners for approval.

The resolution also sets a backstop: if the aggregate of change orders signed under this delegated authority reaches $2 million, any additional change orders beyond that threshold must be submitted to commissioners for approval and signature.

Separate from county-held contingency, commissioners also authorized the general services director to approve the contractor’s use of contractor-held contingency identified in the project’s Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) contract. Staff told commissioners the resolution covers about $5.1 million in contractor-held contingency/allowances within the GMP and $2 million of the $4.8 million contingency currently held by the county. The resolution requires the director to provide bi-monthly updates to commissioners on the project’s status and what change orders have been signed in each contingency category. See the staff report and adopted resolution in the March 3 packet: Board of Supervisors Staff Report and Resolution Attachment.