A problem with incorrect wiring and the mislabeling of wires and break boxes in the control system at the County Jail and a new change order to finish and correct the original project were discussed at Tuesday morning’s Board of County Commissioners meeting.
Sheriff Bret Bowling, addressing the BOCC, said that the problem began with the construction of the jail in 2004. He said, “we used the government contract to begin with and it wasn’t right from the start.” Purchasing Agent Jana Thomas confirmed that this “goes back” to the “initial installation of the doors and the mislabeling of wires.”
“Over the years,” said Bowling, “we have fixed things off of shoestring budgets and tried to bandage what we could. Now, we are trying to upgrade to a state-of-the-art system with a forty-year-old building.”
Thomas reported that the initial bid for the project was $176K, of which the Board paid $100K, and the Sheriff $76K, and covered about 90% of the work needed.
Thomas said that in April the bid for the final 10% was awarded to Gilley Electric based on an estimated 128 hours of work. Bowling explained that “it comes down to the estimated time to complete each door,” and Thomas added that when starting work, Gilley “became aware that the time estimated on each door was exceeding the quote due to” the wiring problems.
District #2 Commissioner Leon Warner and the Board reviewed the change order request and discussed the current control system and its wiring problems with Project Manager Glen Musser, Thomas, and Bowling.
Ultimately, it was unanimously approved by the Board to sign the change order for the jail control system electrical project with Gilley Electric not to exceed $1,350, or 15% of the awarded quote of $9K.
Creek County Treasurer Don Engle’s request to transfer $6,946,155 of recently-received ARPA funds to an interest-bearing account was approved, per new rules from the Treasury that this money can be held in these accounts, provided they do not sweep to another account or become commingled with other accounts in any other way.
Assistant District Attorney Andrew Goforth, the Board’s legal advisor on these matters, said he would like to “put together a work group which would meet weekly to discuss changes [to ARPA rules and directives] and the direction that has been given by the government.” This group would also stay “updated on the frequently asked questions which are located on the U.S. Treasury website.”
It was unanimously agreed to sign an agency agreement between LeadsOnline, LLC and the Creek County Board of County Commissioners in the amount of $3,625 for the Sheriff’s Office.
Bowling stated that he has worked with LeadsOnline in the past and that he and his office would like to start using them again, to assist in investigative efforts with pawn shops to locate stolen items. Bowling said that the tool LeadsOnline provides will allow him to track the County’s “habitual offenders” in this arena.
