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Jail Plans Highlight a Busy Two Weeks for Clark County Board  Share
The Clark County Board has been pretty busy over the past few weeks, but nothing on their agenda has garnered half the attention that the new jail has. In fact, on June 12, WTWO of Terre Haute, as well as WEIU of Charleston, sent reporters and camera crews to cover the special meeting called to discuss the jail plans and ongoing bid process. According to Craig Wright, the architect and site supervisor for the project, the base estimate for the jail came to $2,862,312, plus a 10% contingency which brought the final estimate to $3,148,543. ''The contingency is built into the budget for unforeseen expenses,'' Wright said, ''because things come up that you can't always anticipate.'' However, given the current economic conditions and recent bid trends, the architectural firm and the Board both anticipate that actual bids are likely to come in below the aforementioned estimates. Bids for the jail contract officially went out on the 16, and according to Wright, they expect several contractors to express interest, although several may not meet the stipulated qualifications, which include the successful completion of two or more comparable projects within the past four years. Therefore, all general contractors will be thoroughly vetted before a final decision is made.
Pre-qualifications for the contract were due on the 23 and a mandatory pre-bid meeting is being held on the 29 with final bids to be submitted by July 8th. Wright cautioned prospective contractors, however, that ''If you're afraid of paperwork, don't bid this job.'' Once the bid is awarded, it will be approximately 30 days before they break ground, after which 300 working days will be allotted to get the jail ready for move-in and 30 more for final completion (by June 2010). In other County-related news, Highway Engineer Jack Ward formally announced his retirement effective June 30. According to County Clerk Bill Downey, Crawford County's Highway Engineer Justin Childress will act as Ward's interim replacement until a permanent replacement is hired. Additionally, Marshall Mayor Ken Smith approached the Board about a property that was bought and torn down with the intention of replacing it with ''a pole structure with a brick front'' that will be used for storage for the City of Marshall. However, it was learned that over$14,000 in back taxes were owed on the building, so Smith asked the Board if the County would be willing and able to pay half of the remaining obligation on the property. In response, the Board said they would take it under consideration and agreed to discuss the issue further at their next meeting. On the economic front, Tiffany Macke (Community and Economic Development Director for the Clark County Extension Office) announced that Scott Ware, President of PapR Products, donated 7500 placemats highlighting the county's businesses and tourist attractions. These placemats will be distributed to local (non-Franchise) restaurants throughout the summer to promote summer tourism in Clark County. Yet another significant development in Clark County pertains to preparations for the 2010 Census being spearheaded by Warren Le Fever (Chairman of the Count Committee) who also indicated that a special census website is now up and running, for which he credited City Councilman Tim Sanders. ''Tim has done a nice job on it,'' said Lefever, referring to the site which can be found at http://clarkcountycensus.com. Additional details about the upcoming census will be regularly reported and updated in the coming weeks and months leading up to the actual census, scheduled to take place next April. The next Clark County Board meeting will be held on Friday, July 17. John Lotz is a staff writer for The Casey Reporter.
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