LAKE COUNTY — The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted to delay its decision regarding a half-million-dollar change to a contract with consulting firm CH2M Hill at its Tuesday meeting. The contract, signed in 2005, is for improvements to three water systems managed by the county”s special districts department.
The second amendment to the agreement for engineering services is largely in response to citations issued by the California Department of Public Health (DPH) in Spring Valley and North Lakeport, according to a memo from special districts manager Mark Dellinger. Changes to the contract for the two systems and the Kono Tayee water system totaled $533,000. The discussion was continued to Feb. 12.
“This is very unusual, to have this size of a contract amendment, so it”s good that you”re questioning it,” chief county administrator Kelly Cox told the board.
“We would like to know what we”re getting for our money,” Rushing said. “The change order was so large relative to the initial contract. If we had gone into that contract knowing the scope of what we would be doing for the next couple of years, I don”t know if we would be doing that.” She said the initial contract was around $300,000. With the change order, the contract amount would be more than $800,000.
The majority of the added expense is for improvements to the North Lakeport system, county service area CSA) 21. The change calls for $396,500 for a hydraulic study, evaluation of the Robin Hill Water Treatment Plant, repairs for water quality and the county”s share of running 700 feet of pipe between CSA 21 and the city of Lakeport and a transfer pump station to establish a link between the two systems.
The cost cited for improvements to Spring Valley”s system, CSA 2, is $96,500. Spring Valley is under a moratorium on additional connections after concerns about capacity arose in the summer of 2006. In addition, $40,000 is needed to replace a water storage tank in CSA 13, Kono Tayee”s water system.
Supervisors Anthony Farrington and Denise Rushing, the supervisors in whose districts the water systems are located, supported putting the project out to bid. Dellinger pointed to a May 1 deadline to be in compliance with DPH, saying the bidding process takes no less than three months.
“I”m not sure that it would serve the public interest to follow the process again with the experience that our current engineering firm has,” Dellinger said. He listed advantages of retaining CH2M Hill, including familiarity with DPH and the water systems. Dellinger also said he was not convinced the county could get a better price.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com
