New fire station changes approved
Mustang Fire Station No. 2 is nearing completion. The expectation is an opening day in March 2023. (Photo by Jacob Sturm)
By Jacob Sturm
Ten potential changes to the second Mustang fire station went through the City Council for approval during their monthly meeting Feb. 7.
Of those changes to the project considered at the monthly meeting, six were deductions and two more were credits. The remaining two changes would offset each other.
Mustang Fire Chief, Craig Carruth, presented the proposed changes to the councilors present (Mayor Brian Grider and Councilman James Wald were unable to attend).
“It’s going to be $13,999.86 for the change orders (PCO 10 and PCO 14-22),” Carruth said. “… This is going to leave a balance in the contingency of $56,572.15.”
So, what are change orders and what do they do?
It starts with the design phase of a project. At the time of designing a project, plans are put in place for building, but as a project starts there may be a realization that something won’t work or that something will work better a different way than the designed plans indicated.
“When you notice stuff like that, then there’s processes that it has to go through to get approved to be able to be changed to either what you’re wanting or what you need,” Carruth said.
Carruth said that formal process could require redrawing everything, having it looked over by the engineer and more before being submitted to the General Contractor responsible for day-to-day oversight of the construction site.
Not all change orders will be on the same timeframe. Carruth said that depends on the complexity of the change being requested.
A month ago, Carruth said he had the first eight change orders for the project go through the same process.
Council also approved an Emergency Vehicle Warning Signal being installed along State Highway 152. Mustang City Manager Tim Rooney explained that the signal is similar to the one currently in place at the current Mustang Fire Station.
He also said there were some language changes between the city and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and that the city will solicit bids for the project.
Bidding out the project will take another 30 days from the day published until the time the bid is awarded. Then, the project would have to be lined up with a council meeting to get approved.
That could mean the project wouldn’t be completed before the opening of Fire Station No. 2. Rooney said the plan would be to get the signal installed as quickly as possible.
Carruth said the current signal at Fire Station No. 1 is used to lock up cross traffic and provide the fire department vehicles with a quick exit in case of an emergency. He mentioned the light not being in place day one of the new station will slow the firefighters down, and also mentioned they will remain safe and careful during that period it won’t be installed.
