Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10

Discrepancy? What discrepancy?

Staff presented the agenda item "7.b. Entrance Gate at Davidson and Roberts Roads":

Lowndes County received a $2M grant from the Federal Highway Administration for construction of a new Moody AFB entrance gate, the gate to be located located at the intersection of Davidson and Roberts Roads. $477,991 of this money has already been taken for the railroad crossing improvements, leaving a balance of $1.52 million. The low bid is from Scruggs Company, $1,648,497.05.

Wait, what? The low bid is for more than the funds available? Surely somebody will explain that?

Nope, no discussion. Instead, Commissioner Crawford Powell said:

I'll make a motion we approve the bid as presented by staff.

Commissioner Evans seconded, and they all voted for it. Hey, what $128,497.05 discrepancy?

Here's Part 1 of 2:

Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10 Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 10 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

If we look at the previous morning's work session (9 January 2012), we do find a bit more information. The grant was presented as involving both the Federal Highway Administration and Homeland Security, and:

Mr. Fletcher has additional information.

Two bids were received, from Scruggs and Reames, both for more than that amount. The county had been renegotiating (!) with only Scruggs (!!) about reducing costs. That involved removing the concrete median and other concrete work. Scruggs' new price would be $1,447,955.73, according to County Engineer Mike Fletcher. That leaves the county $34,987.70 short. Mike Fletcher had spoken with the railroad about reducing their estimate and had a site visit planned.

Commissioner Joyce Evans asked why not rebid if the price had changed. Fletcher said GDOT said the Commission would have to approve the Scruggs bid as-is in order to do "value renegotiation". Fletcher also said they had not "damaged the integrity of the project" by removing much of the concrete, which is a very interesting point to remember for future county road projects.

County Manager Joe Pritchard asked what would happen if the County put it out for bids again. Fletcher said that would delay the project probably 45-60 days because it would have to be advertised for 30 days. He didn't say why that would be a problem.

Commissioner Crawford Powell asked whether approving the original bid would commit the county to paying that amount. Fletcher said no, the contract with Scruggs would have the new amount. Powell said as long as approval was "contingent upon final contract approval" he was OK with that.

Yet when Commissioner Powell made the motion the next evening, he said nothing about "contingent upon final contract approval". And still nobody explained why waiting 45-60 days would be a problem. Or why the County was renegotiating with only one of the bidders.

It is quite interesting to know that removing much of the concrete work, including a concrete median, had not "damaged the integrity of the project". So the county greatly overpaid for four-laning Bemiss Road with its concrete median. And any future county road project with a concrete median might well be considered overpaying.

Here's Part 2 of 2:

Commission voted for $128,497.05 road cost overrun without discussion @ LCC 2012 Jan 10 Part 2 of 2:
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 9 January 2012.
Videos by Gretchen Quarterman for LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange.

-jsq