LAKE COUNTY ? A $1 million contract change was approved for the county”s largest road improvement project during a Tuesday Lake County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The project would widen approximately a mile of South Main Street and Soda Bay Road south of Lakeport”s city limits to include three lanes and 8-foot shoulders. The work involves excavation to run utility wires underground, and the contract change would cover the cost of research Caltrans ordered to detect the presence of cultural resources, according to Lake County Public Works Director Brent Siemer.
Siemer said the firm hired for the environmental portion of the project, Larry Seeman Associates, estimated the environmental work would cost between $200,000 and $300,000.
“However, Caltrans demanded that we dig twice as many holes, and make each of them twice as big, and they also wanted them deeper. That”s the main reason we”re looking at this large of a price tag,” Siemer said.
Siemer estimated the project would cost $18 million when complete, and told the board the contractor was working with the county to procure state and federal money to complete the project. Siemer said once the environmental work was done, the board could decide whether to continue the project without risking state and federal money already obtained.
Siemer said Quincy Engineering, hired to complete the whole project, got a 20-month extension from Caltrans to complete the environmental work, an accomplishment he called “remarkable.”
“They consider it gracious to give you six months, and by law you only have one shot at any time extension,” Siemer said, touting Quincy”s work on the county”s behalf.
Despite Siemer”s warning that a delay of a month or more would cause the county to lose funding, the board put off the decision last week to give the firm time to cut its cost estimate. The decision came after the board discussed the project in two hour-long increments and suggested the project go out to bid again.
Siemer said putting the project out to bid would unfairly penalize the firm for Caltrans” unexpected orders. He said Quincy”s cost estimate was more economical than current market costs.
“A lot has happened since 2006. I think with 20/20 hindsight, if we knew where the economy was going and we knew where everything was going, we may not have ? decided to enter into this project. But here we are, $780,000 has been spent that we would have to pay back if we don”t deliver on the environmental,” Board Chairwoman Denise Rushing said.
Supervisor Rob Brown dissented in the 4-1 vote to approve the amendment, saying the contract change was too large to support. Brown scrutinized the firms” claim that it was using area contractors to complete the work, a point the board discussed last week.
“Tell me how much the local contractors are going to be getting. When you got a million-dollar contract, if it”s only $20,000, that”s not adequate,” Brown said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
