Commission OK's $10m for Justice Center

November 30, 2006

By PAUL ROY
Independent Herald Publisher

HUNTSVILLE — After much debate during an unusually long regular meeting here last Monday night (Nov. 20), County Commission voted to approve a $10 million loan to finance the Scott County Justice Center project, as well as voted to award an estimated $4.7 million in bids for the initial construction phase.

The meeting lasted three hours and 20 minutes, much of which was taken up by a discussion on the multimillion dollar project. On hand for the meeting were architects and engineers from SouthBuild, as well as representatives of Henson Construction Services, who will oversee the project.

The vote to approve a loan agreement though the Tennessee County Service Association Loan Program for an amount not to exceed $10 million came shortly after 10 p.m. and carried by an all-aye vote of the board. The loan is to be retired over a 29-year period with variable interest rate ranging from 3.63% to 3.73%, according to the terms of the agreement approved by the commission.

Minutes earlier, after some 90 minutes of debate, the commissioners voted 12-2 to approve two related motions, one of which resulted in the awarding of some $4.7 million in bids to launch the building project (and to rebid several other key components of the project), and the other which authorized a redesign of the heating and air conditioning package from the original geothermal system to a conventional natural gas heating and cooling system. The two dissenting votes on the motion were cast by Commissioners Paul Strunk and Clyde Zachary.

Representatives of SouthBuild (and its subsidiary firms Henson Construction and Spirit Architecture) told the commissioners that bids for the proposed geothermal HVAC system came in well over the projected budget, and a redesign of the system plus rebidding of other components could result in a savings of anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000.

Should those new projections prove realistic, the justice center could be completed at a cost of around $9.6 million, which was the projection made some eight months ago. But judging from the tone of the night’s discussion, several commissioners apparently feel that not only will the project end up costing more than $9.6 million, it could exceed the $10 million loan agreement which has been approved to finance it.

Early on in the discussion, Rigg Ferguson, project manager for Henson Construction, told the commissioners they had three options from which to choose: 1) go with the geothermal system and the bids as submitted for a total project cost of $10,318,797; 2) pull out the geothermal HVAC bids, separate it from the rest of the project, and do it as a separate county-funded project; or, 3) replace the geothermal system with a conventional gas system to reduce the total project cost to $9,873.57.

As recommended by Henson, the commission opted for Option No. 3, and allowed a re-bidding of several of the bids which had come in above projections in an effort to bring the overall cost of the project down to the original estimate of $9.6 million.

Fifth District Commissioner Paul Strunk, while reviewing the figures from which the new estimate of the project’s cost was being made, noted that $300,000 in contingency funds had been removed entirely.

Among the items which are expected to be re-bid are security fencing, asphalt paving, an overhead door for the sally port entrance to the jail, floor tile, security and regular ceiling materials, drywall, partitions and kitchen equipment.

Mayor Rick Keeton pointed out that the plumbing and electrical costs should be greatly reduced with the redesign of the HVAC system.

Commissioners expressed several concerns about different aspects of the project during the course of the discussion, including comments by:

• Third District Commissioner Joel Newport, who said he couldn’t understand why local contractors had not submitted bids on the work to be done;

• Commissioner Strunk, who said he wanted the commission to oversee the construction step-by-step and to be advised of all change orders in advance. Strunk later in the meeting noted that “the previous mayor went above and beyond his authority” to sign the contract with SouthBuild and that the commission had been led to believe the contract was for design only, and not for the building’s design and construction management of the project; and,

• Second District Commissioner Leonard Bertram, who (along with other commissioners) was concerned by the fact that Henson Construction Services Project Manager Tony Duncan had been on the job since work began preparing the site at a salary of $1200 per week, and would continue to work at that salary for the remainder of the project.

Among the bids approved to get the project going were concrete and masonry work, structural steel, roofing, doors and windows, carpeting and flooring, jail detention equipment, laundry equipment, sprinkler system, plumbing, and security electronics.

In addition to Ferguson, other representatives appearing before the commission were Jim Langford, architect, and Cary Henson, of Henson Construction Services.

In other business, the commission:

• Approved a motion by Jeff Watson to refund Attentus Healthcare $152,069 in pre-lease overpayment to Scott County, with the understanding that the overdue payment is being made without added interest charges, and that Attentus will provide the county with documentation to recoup the money from the previous hospital lease holder (Community Health Systems), and that the funds would come from the $2.8 million fund balance of pre-paid hospital lease payments;

• Approved a resolution authorizing the issuance of a $255,000 sewer revenue and tax bond as the county’s matching share of a multimillion dollar sewer extension project in three areas of the county, as one of two resolutions adopted related to this project;

• Voted to accept low bids from PCS, Inc. in the amount of $2,547 for two computers for the Scott County Ambulance Service, and purchase 30 jackets with the appropriate markings for Ambulance Service personnel at a cost of $2,610;

• Approved the low bid submitted by PCS, Inc. for computer hardware for the Circuit Court Clerk’s office in the amount of $3,796, with the understanding that the equipment would be paid for from the Circuit Court Clerk’s budget;

• Vote to (retroactively) approve the purchase of two tables at a total cost of $1,000 for the Boys & Girls Club Hall of Fame banquet;

• Voted to allocate up to $800 for materials to repair the roof of the Scott County Professional Building, with the county’s maintenance staff to provide the labor on the project;

• Voted to appropriate approximately $1,000 to purchase opaque, shatterproof Lexan material to repair broken windows at the Scott County Jail, with labor for the work to be performed by county maintenance staff;

• Adopted a resolution to install a plaque to honor the memory of fallen Scott County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Herbert D. “John-John” Yancey with a plaque to be installed in the new Scott County Justice Center, at the request of members of his family;

• Voted to install 35 mph speed limit signs on a section of the Old Buffalo Road, and to request that the Sheriff’s Department patrol the road and check for excessive speeding or other unsafe driving;

• Approved the appointment of Ericka Boles of Robbins to fill the unexpired term of Darlene Overton on the Scott County Library Board, and to commend Overton for her work and dedication while serving on the board; and,

• Voted to endorse a resolution originating in Roane County calling for the state to adopt measures protecting an individual with limited or no health insurance coverage to not be required to pay more for medical services than insurance companies or Medicare provides for equal services.

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