Joe Olson, Clay County Facilities Director and Dave Overbo, Clay County highway Engineer met with the county board to discuss planned maintenance projects.

Olson began by saying, “Last Tuesday (April 12), we opened bids for the Georgetown, Ulen, and Comstock Highway Shops’ Capital Improvement Project. We took them back; we reviewed; we worked with the Building Committee. At this time, we feel we are going to step back, do some value engineering on the project, and come back with a different plan.” He continued by saying that his department appreciated all the bids but, at this time, his department recommends these bids be rejected by the commission.  The commission voted unanimously to reject the bids.

Responding to the bid rejection, Commission Chair Jenny Mongeau said, “There are challenges to builders and those who are building.  It is our responsibility to do things in a cost-effective manner and sometimes that means we have to reject bids. I think this action is certainly warranted by that. If you can’t afford to do it for the price, you have to go back to the drawing board.”

Olson responded, “We are certainly working with the Building Committee on a Plan B.”

On April 12th, bids for a Capital Improvement Plan for a Cold Storage Project at the Clay County Highway Department were opened.  Bids were approved by the Clay County Building Committee and the Clay County Commission with an implementation timeline of August 2022:

· Gast General Contractors for $415,000

· CB & Sons Electric for $13,900

·  Owner Coordination Item, Building Permit for $3,500

· Total Project Cost-$433,300

· Funding Source-Capital Bond

· Budget-$450,000

Olson said, “We feel it is a good project with MnDOT. The end result is a county building.” He added that MnDOT has plans to build a warm storage building on the property.

Use of American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funding for the Government Center’s Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning (HVAC) Improvement Project received preliminary approval from the Building Committee and the ARPA Committee.  The county commission approved bids:

· 8 Heating/Cooling Units, Accel Mechanical-$117,570

· Heat Panels, CB & Sons Electric-$17,500

· Mini-Split Cooling Units, Dakota Plains Mechanical-$20,500

· Controls, WIR3D-$3,041

· Contingency, used for services related to duct balancing after the system is started-$4,500

· Total Project Cost based on low quotes-$163,111

· Funding Source-ARPA

· $81,843 remains from the original ARPA-approved HVAC budget.

· Commission approved request for additional $81,268 to offset remaining project costs from ARPA funds.

The Clay County Family Service Center’s ARPA project to replace the condensate tank for the boiler and air handler system in the Family Service Building was approved. Dakota Plains Mechanical’s bid of $25,700 was accepted.