Commissioners to vote on bridge contract
The Fayette County Commissioners will vote today to award a contract for a service that the county spent nearly $90,000 on last year. The commissioners will vote regarding a contract for bridge inspection services for the county’s 61 bridges.
According to documentation provided by county manager Warren Hughes, the county spent $87,419.08 for bridge inspections in 2004. That money went to Fayette Engineering Co. Inc., the long-time performer of those services, under a 30-month contract awarded by the county commissioners in 2001.
Paul Nixon, head of the bridge department, previously said that Fayette Engineering has had the contract since at least 1996. During Tuesday’s agenda meeting Nixon said Fayette Engineering doesn’t charge for inspection of 11 of the county’s bridges and also offers consultation services to county employees at no charge.
When Commission Chairwoman Angela M. Zimmerlink asked Nixon if other bidders were made aware of the fact that some of the work is currently done for free, Nixon said they were not.
The commissioners were originally slated to award the contract earlier this year, but Zimmerlink expressed concerns that a pre-bid informational conference was not held for the nine bidders. The commissioners then opted to rebid the project so a pre-bid conference could be held.
Commissioner Vincent A. Vicites said during Tuesday’s agenda meeting that the contract needs to be adopted soon, or the state Department of Transportation will take over the bridge inspection from the county.
Nixon said the bridges should ideally be inspected by October or November before cold weather hits.
When Zimmerlink questioned why some of the proposals were lower that in the previous request for proposals (RFP), Nixon surmised that the firms were trying to bring in lower bid in hopes of winning the contract. Zimmerlink then jokingly suggested soliciting a third RFP to get the bids even lower.
During Tuesday’s agenda meeting, the commissioners also voted to place on today’s agenda a motion to award a contract to replace the roof of the courthouse annex building and repair of the parapet of the building. The county has set aside approximately $500,000 to do the project. Commissioner Joseph A. Hardy III has advocated undergoing a more extensive $15 million courthouse renovation project.