The Carroll County Board of Supervisors is still working towards resolving a disagreement between county officials, the architectural firm, and the general contractor regarding necessary change orders at the Carroll County jail. The new facility has been operational for nearly three months, but the supervisors are yet to close the books on the project. The chief concern for the board was a design error by Shive-Hattery concerning air conditioning requirements for the jail’s server room. Initially, the firm had planned for a three-quarter-ton unit, but the general contractor, Badding Construction, and their sub-contractor needed to add a 3.5-ton unit at a nearly $20,000 cost. District 5 Supervisor, Rich Ruggles, says this is an obvious oversight by Shive-Hattery.
He adds that the architects provided air conditioning to the server room in their design; it was just not enough for the equipment to run correctly. District 1 Supervisor, Scott Johnson, says Shive-Hattery refuses to acknowledge any error on its part during the A/C design process.
There is also some disagreement concerning the installation of fire curtains in elevator shafts and floor coatings for several rooms at the jail. Those costs are relatively small compared to the A/C issue. However, the change orders are presented in a single agreement, so the board would need to accept them all at once or draft new contracts for each piece. The current proposal from Shive-Hattery has the firm covering $5,000 of the cost for the new A/C unit, but the board was not comfortable approving the change order contract at Monday’s meeting. They indicated they would like County Attorney, John Werden, to review the documentation before moving forward. The issue is expected to return to the agenda during the board’s May 9 meeting.
