Site work bids expected next month on Floyd County law enforcement center project

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

Yes, there have been delays, and they have been frustrating, but the Floyd County law enforcement center and courthouse update project has been on the same schedule for some time now and is moving forward, one of the key players in the project said this week.

County Supervisor Linda Tjaden gave the latest progress report at a supervisors workshop Monday on the $13.5 million project to build a new jail and sheriff’s offices as well as fix up parts of the courthouse.

“In your packet I put together a status report,” Tjaden told the other two supervisors Monday. “None of these dates have changed. We’ve been continuing every week to give you updates. We’ve been as transparent as possible. … All the details that we’ve been working on have been critically important to get done before dirt moves.

“There’s a lot of details to work out, and if we don’t get the details worked out we’re going to be in change-order mode, and that is not a position I want to be in, nor I think anybody else,” she said.

Tjaden’s report came after a board meeting last week where Supervisor Doug Kamm, the current chairman of the board, expressed his concern about how slowly the project seemed to be going, even suggesting it might be time to consider litigation against the project architects.

“There’s a lot of balls up in the air right now,” Tjaden said this week. “We’re continuing to work through them. I’m feeling a lot better about where we’re sitting right now. Even though we know that we’re late, there is a lot of work being done.”

One of the key items was resolved this week, when the board passed a resolution at its regular meeting Tuesday, setting easements so several utilities can be moved to make way for the law enforcement center which will be built west of and connected to the county courthouse.

“Right now, the last few months we have been focused on the new addition,” Tjaden said. “The courthouse, and I want to make sure that everybody understands that, has been a very small part of what we have been working on. The first thing to start is the new addition and the new lobby. That’s where the majority of our work has been. It ties to the utility relocation work, the vacation of (Jackson) street and the conveyance work that’s getting done.”

The schedule Tjaden presented this week shows bidding packages for grading and site work going out by July 17, with bids due by Aug. 8, to be reviewed and the winning bids accepted by the Board of Supervisors on Aug. 13.

Site work would begin about two weeks after board approval of the winning bids, the schedule shows.

“We’ve got some dates (coming up) where there’s some critical things going on as far as trying to get bid invitations out to prospective bidders, the bid package getting out, bids getting received,” Tjaden said.

Sheriff Jeff Crooks, who is part of the core team overseeing the day-to-day progress of the project, said he agrees there have been times when progress has seemed slow.

“We’ve all been frustrated at times, no doubt about it, as the core team,” he said. “And we know the general public is out there and wanting dirt moved and everything and there’s nobody in this room, including me, that doesn’t want to see that happen. Like I tell everybody, I need a jail. Let’s go, I need a jail.

“But I understand also that there’s things that need to be taken care of before stuff gets moving,” Crooks said. “I understand there’s a process, too, and you have to go through the process.”

Sid Samuels, the owner of The Samuels Group, the construction manager for the project, was on the phone with the supervisors Monday, and gave an update on the schedule for major construction.

“What we’ve been told from the architects is they should have their construction documents ready and prepared for July 29, for release,” Samuels said. “I would like a week or so to review those documents, just to be safe, and then we would cut those lose for bidding as well.”

He said he typically likes to give bidders at least three weeks on a project this size to look at the bid documents and ask any questions.

“We’d like to see bids received that week of the 22nd of August,” he said. It usually takes a week or so to check the bids and make sure all the numbers add up and they meet the requirements and specifications, he said.

A special board meeting could be held the week of Aug. 29 to review and decide on the winning bids.

Samuels said this bid package will include all the major parts of the construction project, broken down into 15 to 20 packages for subcontracting.

He said that bid document will include everything except “F, F and E,” — furniture, fixtures and equipment, that will be bid later.

“Anything associated to actual construction would be included in that next set of bid packages. We would have a complete number to present to the Board of Supervisors by the end of August,” Samuels said.

He said once construction begins, a member of The Samuels Group team will be onsite and progress reports will be given at least monthly.

“We bring everything to the meeting and give an update on schedule, on finances, answer any general questions,” he said.