SARAH KOMAR
Special to the Citizen
After the Riverside Board of Aldermen unanimously approved a contract revision Tuesday night, the city will pay about $23,000 less than anticipated for sweeping renovations and additions to the E.H. Young Riverfront Park.
On June 4, 2019, city officials signed an initial contract with Gunter Construction Company for the park improvements, at a cost of nearly $2.8 million. Before Tuesday’s vote, previous revisions to the contract had resulted in deductions totaling over $527,000. The contract now totals $2,246,792.
The park project included the construction of lighted pickleball courts, a dog park, natural landscape areas and the county’s largest playground. The renovated park officially reopened June 13.
Some aldermen expressed surprise and satisfaction with the additional price drop Tuesday, which was mostly the result of smaller-than-anticipated quantities of fencing materials needed. The project’s cost has consistently outpaced the city’s original budget of $2.1 million.
“Typically, this would be done on the consent agenda, but when there’s a deduct change order, we wanted to actually get that reaction,” said city administrator Brian Koral.
The Board of Aldermen approved three other regular agenda items Tuesday, including payment of the previous three weeks’ expenses, the execution of a storage space agreement between the city and a Platte County levee district, and the authorization of a cooperative agreement between Riverside and Kansas City’s emergency services divisions.
The meeting’s consent agenda, which the board also passed, included routine budget items such as annual pay raises for city employees and funding for equipment purchases by the public works, police and fire departments.