Southbridge Animal Control Committee Approves $46,000 Design Change Order

Other Committee · Meeting of January 21, 2026

Southbridge's Animal Control Shelter Building Committee unanimously approved a $46,000 change order to its design contract with McLaurin, bringing the total professional services agreement to $110,852. The change order, which must go to the Town Council for final authorization, covers the cost of replacing a mechanical engineer who withdrew from the project and redesigning the sewage system after an encapsulated former town landfill was discovered beneath the project site's parking lot, forcing a switch to a septic design. The project account currently holds $545,296, but the preliminary construction cost estimate stands at $1.2 million, leaving a gap of roughly $700,000.

Committee chair Carl Lazo told members that potential donors "should get those moving sooner than later" and that a formal financing plan will need to go through the Town Council. McLaurin is expected to deliver completed design documents by approximately June 2026, at which point the committee will vote before going out to bid.

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Source: the Other Committee meeting of January 21, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.