The Hamilton County Commission is delaying a vote by one week after Commissioner Tim Boyd raised questions about a resolution that would give Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum (HOK) $101,490 to redesign part of the Silverdale jail. In last week’s meeting, Commissioner Boyd had raised issues with spending that money, and he said he still wanted more information before voting on it this week.
“I just want the Commission to know that I don’t feel comfortable voting on this with the information I’ve got,” Commissioner Boyd said.
“A $100,000 architectural design change. Last week we were told the subcontractors would not adjust their bid based on the redesign. Because of the area being redesigned, unless I can see something in writing from each of the subcontractors they would not change their pricing, I wouldn’t feel comfortable voting on this. I’ll be passing on this.”
Sheriff Jim Hammond assured the Commission that he had spoken to Commissioner Boyd before the meeting, but said he did not feel comfortable going into details during the commission meeting. The Sheriff said he wished to bring in “folks more knowledgeable than me” to talk to the commissioners. Commissioner Warren Mackey also supported the idea of delaying a vote until they received more information.
“Commissioner Boyd deals with this kind of work all the time,” Commissioner Mackey said. “I respect his knowledge of the field, and if he’s not comfortable, can we have more conversation to get what we need to be comfortable with these change orders? I’m looking for Commissioner Boyd, the Commission, and the sheriff to meet to resolve these questions.”
The Sheriff said he could arrange things, and Chairman Chip Baker said the Commission will take this up in next week’s recessed meeting.
In last week’s meeting, information system’s Ron Bernard told the commissioner that the $100,000 resolution was not a change order, but came from already-appropriated funds.
He said, “We originally had what you appropriated, and had a change order that did not go before you that reduced the amount by $499,000, and we’re using this same fund to do this redesign.”
Mr. Bernard said the redesign would facilitate “better flow” during both intake and release, and said the redesign would not affect construction costs.