At this month’s county commission meeting, commissioners approved a bid from Thrift Brothers for Maplewood Road and Creekside Drive improvements. Thrift Brothers, however, did not submit the low bid for the project.
The county received three bids for the project: East Coast Asphalt ($199,819.99), Thrift Brothers ($203,216.88), and Douglas Electric and Plumbing ($260,333.68). Two of the bids, East Coast and Thrift Brothers, were within the engineer’s budget of just over $203,000. The county had discussed these bids in a previous meeting but had tabled the consideration for the bids.
According to county attorney Tony Rowell, the county has had issues with East Coast Asphalt completing projects within the prescribed time. He mentioned the Riverbend project, which has yet to be completed, as well as the upcoming Jacobs Circle project. Jacobs Circle must be 75 percent completed by June in order for the county to be eligible for a community development block grant. Rowell stated that the last seven projects have all been delinquent in terms of finishing them on time. “We’ve got to have more predictability and better compliance with the contractual requirements of 180 days. That’s gracious within any contracting environment. We were unable to get that from one of our bidding parties on this particular bid,” said Rowell.
After he concluded his remarks, he said that it was his recommendation that the county award the project to Thrift Brothers. Commissioner Johnny Wayne Jowers asked if the county had discussed this with East Coast. County administrator Wesley Vickers stated that East Coast was “very aware” of these issues. “They are very much aware of the situation, especially with the Jacobs Circle contract having to be complete 75 percent by June 1. If not, it’s going to impact our ability to get another CDBG grant,” said Vickers.
Jowers asked Vickers what East Coast’s response was. “They said they’d get it done,” replied Vickers.
Commissioners then voted unanimously to award the Maplewood and Creekside projects to Thrift Brothers.
Commissioners also rejected a rezoning request from Terramore Development for 2.52 acres at 3853 Highway 441 South from Agriculture to Commercial. If approved, developers would build a new Dollar General store on that location. The commissioners unanimously voted against the request.
Commissioners also approved the following items:
· New fees for services provided by the Coffee County Health Department, particularly regarding food service fees, septic tank fees, and the like;
· A change order to include another .6 of a mile on the Ashby Drive project. The change order extends the project to include all of Ashby and brings the total contract price to $814,063.86;
· The annual contract for the senior center;
· The adoption of the county’s hazard mitigation plan;
· A utility easement on Thompson Drive, Sinkhole Road, and Barrington Road to the City of Douglas; and
· The engineering services for the 2024 CDBG application.