The construction of a law enforcement center in Oconto looks to be a half-million dollars over budget, causing the county to label some design aspects as alternatives before sending the project out to bid.
On Thursday, the two committees overseeing the construction project learned costs have surpassed the budgeted $30 million by $475,700. The county plans to pay for the LEC with $5 million from its general fund and $25 million in bonding.
Consultant Kurt Berner, of The Samuels Group, said Sheriff Mike Jansen and the design team will identify several alternatives to the design adopted by the County Board on Feb. 19 and put them out to bid as extras.
“Hopefully, if the bidding climate allows it, we would get the base bid and all the alternates to get everything we wanted in the design,” Berner said.
Construction of the LEC, which will include jail housing for up to 175 inmates, a sheriff’s administration area and 911 center, is scheduled to go to bid June 19. Contracts would be awarded by the County Board on July 23. Construction is scheduled to start July 24 and be completed by Jan. 30, 2017, about a month behind schedule.
One budget overrun can be traced to the unsuitable soils located at the site where the facility will be constructed.
According to Berner, two solutions were considered. The first, to use pilings that would go as deep as the bedrock, was estimated to cost $1.4 to $1.5 million, which caused Administrative Coordinator Kevin Hamann to cringe.
Instead, the county plans to use a ground improvement process, in which gravel and stone will be mixed with the soil under supporting walls, for an anticipated expense of just over $700,000.
As for the other aspects of the project, Berner said projections show some higher than anticipated and some lower.
The Public Property and Law Enforcement and Judiciary committees on Thursday learned about additional services provided by SRF Consulting, which handled the acquisition of homes at the LEC site, relocated the tenants and is managing the now-vacant properties.
The committees will recommended the County Board amend its contract with SRF by $53,250, bringing the total paid to SRF Consulting to $307,994. The County Board is scheduled to act on two amendments March 19.
Marla Britton, of SRF Consulting, said the original contract allowed for 264 hours of property management work at $150 an hour, for total fee of $41,700. She proposed an additional 294 hours, for $44,100, to cover the oversight of Habitat for Humanity, which salvaged materials from the homes, plus the completion of hazardous materials paperwork, oversight of the hazardous materials abatement process and other services.
Originally, 30 hours were proposed for asbestos and hazardous contaminants investigation. At $150 an hour, the total was $4,500. The amendment would add nine more hours, at a cost of $1,350.
Another property management expense is the weekly checks of the vacant properties, an eight-hour task. The county agreed to 26 weeks of inspections. In order to provide the service until the homes are demolished (estimated to be completed at the end April), an additional 24 weeks is needed, Britton said.
“We have staff come up every week. They’re documenting, they’re taking photos, they’re shaking doors to make sure nobody’s broken in, that there’s no signs of vandalism,” Britton said.
“It’s mainly a safety issue. We don’t want kids or anybody getting into those and getting hurt,” Hamann said. “We are responsible for it.”
The $150-an-hour price tag had committee members looking for other options, but it was decided that SRF Consulting personnel had the expertise necessary to complete the inspections, and county employees didn’t have the experience or time available.
“It’s something that’s hard to swallow, but we have to do this correctly,” Hamann said. “We’ll try to speed this up as soon as possible, to get the (security) fence in and those houses down, but it’s just taking time to get all the things taken care of.”
Once the city block is surrounded by a security fence, the need for weekly inspections will end, prompting Supervisor Rose Stellmacher to ask, “So can you get the fence up starting tomorrow?”
To install a fence quickly, the county will seek bids to be reviewed by the County Board on March 19 and ask the city for a variance for the length of time the fence can be in place.
“The challenge becomes that the city only allows the fence to be up for 30 days,” Hamann said.
On Thursday afternoon, 14 contractors interested in demolishing the properties were at the courthouse for a walk-through. Hamann said a De Pere house-moving company has proposed moving a small ranch house, but he’s been told the other homes aren’t good candidates for moving.
The Oconto Fire Department wants to burn two homes for training exercises.
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