By JONATHAN ZWEYGARDT
Hays Post
Work on the future home of the Ellis County Public Works Department could start as soon as Nov. 1 after the Ellis County Commission approved a bid this month for almost $6 million for construction of the facility.
In June of last year, the Ellis County Commission approved the purchase of 75 acres of land just off U.S. Highway 183 north of Hays. At last week’s commission meeting, the commission approved the base bid and seven alternates for the construction of the facility from PWC Inc. for $5.9 million.
The commission chose PWC from five businesses for the base bid of $5.3 million and seven alternates for an additional $314,000.
Ellis County Administrator Darin Myers said PWC not only had the lowest base bid but also had the lowest combined bid.
The bid also contained a 360-day timeline for completion. However, there are some allowances for weather delays.
Public Works staff are handling the site prep and Director Brendon Mackey said they are progressing.
“We'll have the building areas done before the Nov. 1 date,” Mackey said.
The county has been transferring funds into the capital fund to pay for the project and Myers said the commission’s latest $2 million transfer put that fund over $7.1 million. The county also transferred an additional $500,000 to help cover if the facility bids came in over budget. Because the bids came in under what was expected, Myers said there is about $2 million left in that fund.
“This is the third year that we've made a transfer into that fund to help save up this project, so that way, we weren't having to borrow the money,” Myer said.
The commission also chose to set more money aside for the project and finish it completely instead of doing it piece by piece.
“Since the commission's desire was to do it all upfront, do it right now,” Myers said, “we had that transfer increase this year. That way, the project would be fully funded and paid for by cash and not have to borrow money or reduce any planned expenditure.”
After approving the bid, the commission approved GLMV as the construction administration of the project for 1.5 percent of the project cost or a little more than $84,000.
“This will help county staff,” Myers said. “As commissioners are well aware, we're not overstaffed to have a whole lot of extra time to take on a $5 million project. It's similar to the KDOT project.”
The commission also approved the installation of electrical services at the site for $54,000 from Midwest Energy and $144,000 for the county’s share of a larger fiber optic network, through Nex-Tech, connecting the city’s new fire station on 41st Street to the new public works facility.