JAMESTOWN – The cost of repainting the grandstand at Russell E. Diethrick Jr. Park will be five times more than originally expected.
The city of Jamestown, which owns the park, has been hit with $110,000 in unexpected costs related to the project due to the costly removal of lead paint that was recently discovered.
“Getting into the project, they noticed some lead-based paint that is on the ceiling of the grandstand, as well as some of the steel support beams,” Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi told WRFA Monday night. “The job was immediately shut down, we brought in an environmental consultant to evaluate the situation and put together a remediation plan and tonight the Jamestown City Council approved the change order on the project to deal with the encapsulization and remediation of the lead paint in the facilities.”
In February the city council initially approved a contract with Long Island Enterprise for $25,300 to paint the underside of the grandstand, railings and metal columns, but with the unanticipated costs, the price is now $135,000.
The city had a $50,000 fund to use toward upgrades to the ball park, but with the additional $111,700 change order that was approved Monday night, all that fund had to be depleted and, in addition, the city council had to use another $87,000 from the city’s contingency fund to pay for the remainder of the remediation cost.
“That’s why we have a contingency fund,” Teresi noted. “It’s sufficient to cover a project like this. We will be looking for other sources of funding to help defray that cost and hopefully not have to hit the contingency line of the budget for the full $87,000. But that’s the reason why there is a contingency budget and, furthermore, the need for a healthy undesignated fund balance because things of an unanticipated nature come up during the course of a year.”
Teresi added that the painting project is still on schedule and should be completed by the time the baseball season begins on June 1, when the Jamestown Jammers collegiate baseball team holds its home opener. The Babe Ruth World Series will also be played at Diethrick Park later this summer in August, with teams from across the United States expected to be on hand.
Leave a Reply