Mokena Community Park District officials said their current $7.2 million construction project has been delayed, possibly for a few months.
“Everything is in limbo,” board President Mike Bartos said after the June 28 meeting, without elaborating and deferring comments to board attorney Gina Madden.
“Henry Bros. is trying to coordinate a lot of moving pieces at the start of the project,” Madden said, “It’s a normal part of the process.”
The park district broke ground April 2 on a 20,000-square-foot expansion to The Oaks Recreation Center, which will include a new gym and multipurpose rooms. Simultaneously, development began on the historic Yunker Farm, across LaPorte Road, which will include a band shell and terrace seating, a splash pad, dog park, community gardens and parking.
Also at its June meeting, the board approved a change order for painted pre-cast concrete for the recreation center for an additional $12,500.
Commissioner Kevin Brogan, who is the board’s liaison to the construction team, said the project has been delayed because they could not get delivery of the pre-cast concrete until October.
“There are only a handful of manufacturers who do this and we did not connect with them soon enough,” he said.
The park district initially expected to get the pre-cast concrete in July, he said. The change order “didn’t help, but did not cause a huge delay,” he said.
“You get glitches in any project,” Brogan said, adding that Henry Bros., the construction management firm, and Olivieri Brothers, the project architect, are both “doing a great job” and are “working together.”
There have been a few glitches.
Construction was initially expected to start last fall. After several delays, the board approved the construction manager’s contract in October, creating a controversy because Henry Bros. proposed doing the job for $97,000 more than the lowest offer from Olivieri Brothers.
A majority of board members defended that decision, saying they had problems on the initial construction of The Oaks, in which the construction manager and architect were the same firm
A few weeks after breaking ground, the park board fired its executive director, Jim Romanek. The board met in closed session Tuesday night to review the 11 applicants and narrow down their choices. A replacement is expected soon.
In firing director Romanek, the board cited that he failed to “competently supervise” The Oaks expansion project and overpaid Olivieri for his work on that. The board later paid Olivieri after withholding payment while they reviewed his bills.
It was also alleged that Romanek awarded several contracts to Olivieri Brothers without asking the board if it wanted to seek proposals for architectural services. However, at that April meeting, the board also hired a second architect, Scott Piper, for $125,000 for the Oaks/Yunker Farm project without seeking requests for proposals.
Piper was brought on board to avoid delays in the project, review change orders, pay requests from contractors and communicate with Olivieri, according to board meeting minutes.
Piper is no longer working for the park district, Madden said Tuesday night, adding that the additional architect did not cause the delays in the project.
Also during construction in early May, the fiber optic wires were severed, causing the park district’s computers to be down for a few days.
Henry Bros. did not respond to calls seeking comment.
John Olivieri, project architect, said he does not know why there is a delay.
“We are bending over backwards to do everything on time. We have made every deadline,” he said.
Olivieri’s contract requires it to review plans and shop drawings within 10 days, and Olivieri said it has responded in two to six days.
“We’re doing everything we’re told to do,” he said.
Voters approved a $6 million bond issue for the project in November 2014, and the park district was awarded a $400,000 state grant for the work at Yunker Farm, but the status of that grant is unknown given the state’s financial crisis. Available funds will cover remaining costs.
The total bid package approved by the board totaled $7.5 million, from 14 different trades, including the $620,570 construction management fee for Henry Bros.
“There is no doubt in my mind that it will all look lovely when it’s done,” Brogan said.
