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June 14, 2008

Bids in county projects are due on Tuesday

By Kelly Young

kyoung@jacksonvilleprogress.com

It is almost time for Cherokee County commissioners to decide whether or not the benefits of the three projects currently being considered outweigh the costs.

Garrett & Associates General Contractors, Whitehouse the firm selected as construction manager-at-risk for the county’s work, expects to receive the last of the subcontractor’s bids for the projects by the beginning of next week.

“The bids are all due back to the construction manager on Tuesday of next week. After talking to the construction manager, he has told me that he would be able to compile the bids and meet with the county two days after the last bid has been received,” said Mike Leinback of JML Architects.

Final plans and design specifications for the three projects — to renovate the old Jacksonville Police Department building, to build a new evidence room to the Cherokee County Jail and to redesign the Justice of the Peace’s office in Alto to include a courtroom — were completed by JML three weeks ago and then forwarded to Garrett & Associates.

Once the bids have all been gathered and compiled, the construction manager will be able to set a guaranteed maximum price for the proposed work, which will then be presented to the county for approval.

Assuming the bids are all in by Tuesday and the GMP is prepared by the end of next week, an agenda item determining whether or not the county gives final approval of the construction could potentially be placed on the June 23 commissioner’s court agenda.

In April, when JML and Garrett & Associates presented the initial cost estimates for the work, commissioners expressed strong reservations due to the high cost of the projects. Those first estimates placed the total construction at $858,362 — nearly $240,000 more than the county budgeted for this year for its capital improvements.

“We were really hit with sticker shock when the cost estimates were given to us. Who would have thought that an evidence room for the sheriff’s department would need an emergency exit with a handicap-accessible ramp? Things like that really brought the price up,” said Precinct 3 Commissioner Moody Glass said. “So do you kill the whole project because of one item, or do you go ahead and bite the bullet because that’s the way it has to be done and because you know it will cost even more in the future?”

Glass said he is reserving judgment regarding the projects until concrete construction costs have been revealed, saying the county is in limbo until a GMP is submitted.

A pre-bid conference was held last week, allowing subcontractors to tour the three construction sites and to ask questions prior to bidding for the projects.

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