Commissioners open, reject bids for proposed OSU Extension office relocation

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton and David Daniels opened — and subsequently rejected — bids related to a proposed new Ohio State University Extension office building at the Highland County Fairgrounds during their Wednesday, June 28 meeting.

Commissioner Brad Roades was absent.

Discussions for the proposed project have been ongoing for nearly a year, as commissioners voted in August 2022 to hire an architecture firm, the WDC Group, to explore possible options for the office relocation.

The Extension office is currently located in the Highland County Administration Building. According to Daniels, both spacing and parking issues at the administration building are factors in looking into the possible move, based on talks with Extension staff.

At 9:30 a.m., commissioners — along with Chris Widener of the WDC Group — conducted the bid opening. They received just one bid for the complete project, along with other bids for various aspects of the work. Those included:

• Tag Williams, Inc.: base bid 1A (general work and labor), $736,462; base bid 16A (electrical), $114,680; and a combination bid for 1A and 16A of $839,855. The combination bid included alternate 1 (masonry and wainscoting) and alternate 2 (standing seam metal roof), for which the company also provided separate bids.

• WE Contracting, LLC: base bid 16A (electrical), $82,500.

• Weller’s Plumbing and Heating: base bid 15A (plumbing), $112,950; base bid 15B (mechanical), $100,800.

• CT Electric: base bid 16A (electrical), $95,000.

Britton thanked the contractors in attendance for their bids and for attending the meeting. He said they would give the architects to review the bids and make a recommendation and was “not sure exactly when we’re going to award them, if we’re going to award them.”

Widener said he could have a recommendation “within a matter of days,” but it took under 20 minutes for the WDC Group to make their decision to reject the bids, which was accepted by commissioners.

After the bid opening, Daniels asked if Widener “had any sense of where we are as far as the estimate’s concerned.” Widener said the project estimate was $819,870;

“That's what was published,” Widener said. “We had 12 bidders looking at the project.

“We heard about a couple of difficulties they're having with construction material and labor related to concrete in particular. Our assessment is that's probably because that's what's going on in a lot of major projects around our three-county area here as we all know, [because of] Fayette County.”

(Widener was referencing the ongoing construction of a new Honda/LG battery plant in Fayette County, which is reportedly going to be over two million square feet in size.)

Commissioners recessed just before 9:45 a.m., and it was just after 10 a.m. when they reconvened to vote to reject the bids due to being over 10-percent over the project estimate.

“We recommend all bids be rejected and the project be readvertised for bid,” Widener wrote in a letter to commissioners Wednesday morning.

In other discussion:

• Commissioners accepted the recommendation of county Human Resources director Amy Bradley to enter into a contract with Allstate for supplemental insurance.

The county has previously been contracting with Aflac for supplemental insurance.

Bradley, who was accompanied by supplemental benefits broker Linda Kujawa, said she believes “not only is it going to be better for the employees, it's going to be better for administration, time, cost and stuff with your internal HR department itself.”

Daniels asked if affected employees had been notified of the potential change.

“That is in process,” Bradley said. “We are sending out emails, and we have open enrollment meetings Thursday and Friday, and Linda will be a part of all of that.

“Linda will be reaching out to every single employee that is impacted. I will be reaching out through mass communication, and Linda will be reaching out individually to transition this process.”

Kujawa said that the transition will occur throughout the month of July and take effect Aug. 1.

Commissioners voted 2-0 to accept the customer agreement contract with Allstate Benefits and American Heritage Life Insurance Company.

“Hopefully this will help streamline this a little bit,” Britton said.

• Commissioners and county auditor Alex Butler also held several budget meetings throughout the morning and afternoon Wednesday with heads of various departments. The Law Library, Soil and Water Conservation District, Health Department and Sheriff’s Office were all on the agenda at various times Wednesday.

“It’s budget season,” Butler said. “We're department heads and preparing for next year's budget, so that's a busy time.

“I’ve also been working with Vickie [Warnock, county treasurer] on tax bills.”

Warnock said she hoped to have those sent out by Wednesday, July 5, and “they are due July 28,” Butler said.

Commissioners said they will also be having a special session July 6 for budget meetings only.

In other action, commissioners approved the following, each by a 2-0 vote:

• A Community Corrections Grant Agreement among Commissioners, Probation, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, Division of Parole and Community Services, Bureau of Community Sanctions.

“This is for their funding grant for the next two years,” Daniels said.

• An addendum to a recently approved right-of-way license agreement among commissioners, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Highland County Airport. The change was adjusting the terms of the agreement from 25 years to 50 years.

• A request from Probation for a budget modification within the 2170 Community Probation Department SRVC account in the amount of $20,000.

• A budget modification within the 1000 Economic Development account in the amount of $500.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds in the 4030 Other Expense - 911 fund in the amount of $25,000.

• A request from the Auditor for a budget modification within the 1000 Auditor account in the amount of $1,000.

• A request from Probation for an advance within the 2170 Community Probation Department SRVC account in the amount of $20,000. Also requested is a budget modification within the 2615 account in the amount of $20,000.