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Commissioners ask for clarification on jail costs
On Tuesday, Bourbon County Commissioners met with architect and construction manager-at-risk representatives to find out more about the escalated estimated cost to build a new jail.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed one commissioner -- First District Commissioner Lynne Oharah -- will meet once a month to keep updated on the project with Kevin Rost, senior project manager with Goldberg Group Architects of St. Joseph, Mo., and possibly Archie Smith of Universal Construction Company of Lenexa, the construction manager at-risk. The meetings will be held at 10 a.m. on the final Thursday of the month.
Commission Chair Barbara Albright also asked Oharah to advise her and Third District Commissioner Harold Coleman if they need to attend any of the meetings.
On Dec. 15, Larry Goldberg of GGA told commissioners they should expect the construction cost to be more than the originally estimated $6.8 million. He also advised them to consider alternative funding sources to pay for the additional costs.
Greg Vahrenberg of Piper Jaffray of Leawood also met with commissioners to discuss some of those options.
Since then, commissioners have fielded a lot of questions and comments from the public, they said Tuesday.
"I had contacted Kevin (Rost) and we were trying to make some decisions because there's a real strong feeling that we are worried about when we start bidding, it may be a little more costly than we anticipated," Albright said.
One suggestion made during the Dec. 15 meeting was to have the county's road and bridge department assist with the ground preparation work, she said.
"As we went along, we wanted to hear a little bit more from you and Archie (Smith) on how we got to that shortage," Albright.
She said Oharah asked if the representatives could return because he had some questions for them.
"Right out of the bucket, 15 or 20 percent overrun is something that gets your attention," Oharah said. "Looking at it from the commodities, I don't see materials have gone up that much in the last year, so I'm assuming the majority of this is labor."
Rost said a portion of the increase is in labor, but he said there are a couple of things that are contributing to the increase in construction costs. He said the size and budget cost was estimated prior to the April election when voters agreed to a county-wide .4 percent retail sales tax increase to pay for the bond project. The size and cost was based on a similar project the firm had completed in another county, Goldberg said Dec. 15.
Originally, the size was to be 21,000 square feet but was increased to about 22,000 feet. The size has now increased an additional 2,000 feet, Goldberg said, due to design restrictions.
When Oharah asked about the cost-per-square-foot, Rost said prior to the election, construction costs were running between $2.60 and $2.80-per-square-foot, but they have "continued to escalate just a little bit."
"Material costs have fluctuated up and down," Rost said.
He said contractors are busier now than they were two years ago, which might affect how many will submit bids.
"Local contractors have approached me more than once in the last two weeks. They want to be part of the bidding process -- plumbers, electricians, cabinet makers -- the whole nine yards," Oharah said. "I'm sure they'll be competitive."
Rost said he hopes that is the case.
"I'm sure these guys (Universal Construction) will go the extra mile to make sure the local guys have a fair shot at this stuff," Rost said. "It's kind of a priority. It's a priority to you guys. It's a priority to us. We've got to reach out to those guys. We want competitive bids.
"As much as we want to keep things local, if we've got a guy up in Olathe that can do just as good a job but cheaper, that will be a question to answer once the bids come in."
Later, he said GGA has also heard from a company in Arizona that is interested in participating in the project.
Rost said GGA's fee is based on a percentage of the project cost and will increase if the cost increases.
"So if construction costs go down, your fees will go down?" Oharah asked.
"Absolutely," Rost said.
Oharah asked for a spreadsheet that would show line item costs.
Rost said there is a "breakdown" which is "very detailed per trade, per material."
"Are we going to have the exact number right now? No, they're not (exact), not until we have bid day," Rost said.
Oharah said serious consideration is needed before committing the county's public works department's assistance with the project.
"If we short ourselves of gravel and two people, we'd be way behind, especially in a wet spring," Oharah said.