MARSHALL – Construction updates made up much of the business before the Marshall City Council again on Tuesday night. Council members approved multiple items related to construction of the new regional amateur sports center, including another list of change orders for construction of the center’s arena and expo building.

Council members voted to award a $164,000 proposal to American Fence Company, of Rochester, for fencing, backstops and foul poles at the sports complex’s softball diamonds. Marshall Public Works Director Glenn Olson said the proposal was “a fairly substantial reduction” from some of the original proposals the city had received for the ballpark fencing. Back in July, the council had rejected fencing bids and opted to try and negotiate a lower price. Olson said American Fence Company was the low bidder from the original group of four bidders earlier this year.

The council also considered another slate of change orders for different parts of the Red Baron Arena and Expo, including increases in materials like concrete and steel, and a contract increase of more than $22,800 for an operable window in the arena’s club room. The total amount of changes the council considered Tuesday came to $32,548. Olson said the change orders had been reviewed by the project’s construction manager, and he recommended they be approved.

However, council members said they had some questions about the number of change orders for the arena and expo that have come up over the past weeks.

“I thought that was part of the reason we had a construction manager, to eliminate this,” said council member Larry Doom. Council member Glenn Bayerkoher also questioned spending almost $23,000 for a “fancier window” in the club room.

Olson said change orders can happen for a number of reasons, including unforeseen problems, contractor issues or just changes the building owner – the city, in this case – wanted made. Olson said having a construction manager for the sports center project has helped greatly in coordinating among the different construction contractors.

Olson said all the sports center’s change orders to date have totaled a cost increase of $130,368. That increase is equal to about 1 percent of the project’s contracted $13.66 million construction cost, he said.

In the case of the club room window, Marshall City Administrator Ben Martig said it was a feature that would enhance the arena and expo facility. The club room is a space that can be rented out for meetings but doubles as a viewing area for one of the facility’s two ice arenas. The change order would allow the viewing window panels to be folded back for sporting events like hockey games, Martig said.

Council members voted 6-1 to approve the change orders, with Bayerkohler casting the vote against.

Later in the meeting, council member David Sturrock brought forward a concern about the use of motorized bikes or scooters in the pedestrian underpass near Marshall High School and Southwest Minnesota State University. Sturrock said he recently saw high school students driving motorized bikes through the underpass. That posed a danger to the students and to other pedestrians who might use the underpass, he said.

“It seems to me we’ve got an enormous liability here,” Sturrock said. The city should look at the issue more closely, he said.

Council member Ellayne Conyers said the problem had come before the city Legislative and Ordinance Committee in the past. At that time, she said, the plan was for security at SMSU and the high school to watch traffic on the underpass and to put up markers like red paint or signage warning students to walk any motorized bikes or scooters. However, Conyers said she didn’t know if those measures had actually been put in place. Mayor Bob Byrnes suggested that city staff follow up with the high school and university on the matter.