Supervisors Upset By Penguin Project’s Increased Cost

Rendering of new Humboldt Penguin Exhibit. Milwaukee County Zoo.

Supervisors were upset this week when they learned that a last-minute change in design for a new penguin exhibit at the Milwaukee County Zoo would cost the county $1.5 million more than initially planned.

“Somebody’s head should roll for that kind of mistake,” Sup. Steve Taylor said at a meeting of the board’s Committee on Parks and Culture Tuesday.

Zoo director Amos Morris went before the parks committee, and the board’s Committee on Finance, asking supervisors for $1.5 million to finish a planned enhancement of the zoo’s Humboldt Penguin Exhibit. The zoo received a $3.5 million tourism grant from the state — funded by the COVID-19 stimulus-focused American Rescue Plan Act — which was supposed to be enough to cover the project’s cost. The zoo has already spent $450,000 on design, Morris said.

The problem, as explained by Morris and his project manager, John Teppler, a senior project manager with The Concord Group, lays with the size of sand filters for the penguin tank, grant rules and Wisconsin winters.

Late in the design stage, it was discovered that the sand filters, measuring 12 feet high and five feet wide, would not fit into a utility building at the current penguin exhibit. This was due to an error in the architectural drawings. The error was caught when the plans were measured by hand against their corresponding scale, and the sand filters in the drawings actually came to 42 inches wide, not 60. When drawn to the correct specifications, the sand filters simply do not fit and another building needs to be constructed to house them.

The mistake was caught before construction when it surely would have been discovered, Morris said, “So we caught it early, but late.”

Morris conceded that he could simply cut his losses and close the project out, but the project has already spent $450,000 of the state tourism grant on design costs. Those funds would need to be returned to the state. “If we stop it right now, I’m spending $450,000 for nothing,” Morris said.

The project could also be paused and redesigned altogether, Morris said, but that would delay construction into next winter. If the exhibit is constructed during winter, Teppler explained, the entire site will need to be tented and have hot air pumped in so the concrete can cure. The cost estimate for that comes to approximately $60,000 a month, Teppler said.

The penguin exhibit is old, Morris told supervisors. The facility is degrading, “And we’re challenged to keep the water in the tank at this point,” he said. Morris said he was trying to do what was best for the zoo and the county, especially considering money has already been spent on the project and the county could lose the $3.5 million tourism grant if it calls it off now.

Supervisors in both committees were displeased with the zoo asking for $1.5 million for the project. Originally, the zoo asked for the funding to come from the county’s rainy day account. At the parks committee, that was a nonstarter. Committee chair Sheldon Wasserman noted there are great infrastructure needs throughout the county.

The parks committee voted to reject the funding request. Sup. Steven Shea, the lone vote against rejection, said that while he planned to support the request, “Please don’t come back to us for more money anytime soon like this.”

Two days later at the Finance Committee, Sup. Shawn Rolland put forward an amendment that replaced the $1.5 million in funding from the rainy day account and replaced it with funding from the 2023 budget surplus. Rolland said he was angry and frustrated that a design error was costing the county $1.5 million, but “we can’t make a bad situation worse by acting emotionally.”

Joe Lamers, Director of the Office of Strategy, Performance and Budget, echoed the administration’s frustration and confirmed there was $1.5 million in surplus sales tax revenue from 2023 that could be tapped. “But we also are not wanting to return funds to the state for a project that’s really going to be needed in the near term, anyways,” he said. “The penguin exhibit is old, it’s outdated, it has multiple failures.”

Sup. Sequanna Taylor suggested the county re-evaluate its contracts to prevent this type of cost overrun in the future, and consider some type of insurance against contractor mistakes costing the county money. “I don’t think anybody up here is excited about this,” she said of the funding request. “But we know it’s absolutely something that we must do.”

The finance committee approved the request. Only Sup. Peter Burgelis voted no on the approval.

The funding request will go to the full board later this month for final approval, after which it goes to the desk of County Executive David Crowley.