A representative of an architectural firm has received the authority to negotiate with Malouf Construction over the cost of the Leflore County Justice Center project.
William McElroy of McElroy Ward and Associates updated the Leflore County Board of Supervisors on the plans on Tuesday.
The cost for the Justice Center, a 15,000-square-foot one-story office and courtroom building, was projected in February at $2.26 million. In July, McElroy Ward and Associates submitted an estimated budget of $2.9 million, including $2.7 million in building costs.
Malouf's bid of $3.5 million was the lowest figure submitted.
McElroy said he favored negotiating the price down rather than reopening it for new bids. If new bids are taken, the contractor fees and costs for labor and materials are bound to go up, he said.
"Our cost projections track very closely with Malouf's estimates," he said. "And the place where we differ is primarily in the mechanical."
McElroy said mechanical work originally estimated at $648,000 is now projected to cost $1.2 million, but he attributed this difference to a "misunderstanding" of the mechanical estimates by the contractor.
McElroy said Malouf listed $221,000 in "contract overhead and profits and markup" that had not been included in the earlier estimate by his firm. Otherwise, the two firms' estimates were consistent for the most part, and he was confident that Malouf was acting in good faith.
"I think we can bridge that gap," he said. "And if we can't, then we go back to the bid market."
The law requires that the contract amount be no more than 10 percent above or below the budget figure - in this case, $290,000 below Malouf's $3.5 million bid. However, once a contract is signed, they can make as many adjustments as they want.
Also Tuesday, the supervisors delayed a decision on whether to allow the removal of a clause in the county jail's contract that requires accreditation by the American Correctional Association.
Jerry Parker, warden of Delta Correctional Facility, which houses the jail, asked the board that the clause be removed. Parker said that the jail adheres to the ACA standards already and that removing the accreditation requirement would save $10,000 that could be used to improve the jail. Improvements he suggested included an upgrade of the security system and construction of an interior wall to separate pods.
Removing the requirement wouldn't change the way the facility operates, Parker said. Plus, he added, jails of this size seldom are accredited anyway.
Sheriff Ricky Banks said that "you can have a good jail and still not be accredited." Some of the improvements needed there are more important than accreditation, he said.
On the other hand, Banks added, accreditation improves the ability to defend against lawsuits.
Parker said accreditation requires more inspections than the prison would have to undergo otherwise. However, he said, the prison's policies and procedures were drawn up in accordance with ACA requirements, and the facility already conducts self-audits that actually exceed those requirements.
Willie Perkins Sr., the supervisors' attorney, pointed out that the jail was built to comply with the anti-crowding requirements of the federal lawsuit Gates v. Collier.
Prisoners' attorney Ron Welch now oversees the prisons' compliance with the court order issued in that case.
Perkins said he doesn't recommend taking any action until he can be certain that the prison could comply with the Gates order and not be accredited. He said he would research the issue, but added, "I'm not going to go beyond that until we see what's in that court order and how it impacts your request."
Robert Moore, president of the board, said he would accept Parker's proposal if the savings could help improve the facility, but he said he wants "to be as close to those standards as humanly possible."
The board voted to extend the contract until Sept. 26 subject to approval by the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), which oversees Delta Correctional Facility.
Also at Tuesday's meeting:
- The board approved the recommendation of County Judge Solomon Osborne to hire Robert Fitzpatrick as the new director of the Juvenile Detention Center at a salary of $35,798. Fitzpatrick, a native of Greenwood, has run a correctional facility in Rankin County and, before that, the Hinds County Restitution Center. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Mississippi Valley State University. The board also approved the hiring of Ouida Faye Martin as an officer. Osborne said both would begin work in two to three weeks, and both would take drug tests and undergo background checks.
- The board approved Three Rivers Economic Development Corp. entering into a lease with the Business Management Development Center in Itta Bena.
- Perkins told Val Jessop of John-Richard that the board doesn't have the authority to change the company's personal property assessment. The company had found that an inventory amount had been reported incorrectly, changing the assessment so drastically that Jessop said it "literally doubled our taxes." The deadline for approval by the board was Aug. 29, but he asked for some flexibility because bad weather that day caused the business to lose power. Perkins said the deadline was absolute and the board didn't have the authority to make the change Jessop requested. Besides, he said, the company was required to make its request and state its reasons in writing but did not.
- The board voted against purchasing anti-terrorism insurance.
- The board authorized the use of Little Round Park by Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church for a Sept. 24 picnic.
- The board accepted a budget submitted by Greenwood Leflore Hospital for the 2005-2006 fiscal year, although Moore said he wanted to see a more detailed breakdown of the figures.
