PANAMA CITY — The long-delayed county courthouse annex project won’t advance at the commission’s Tuesday meeting, despite an arbitrary deadline set last month.
County Manager Ed Smith had said it would be time to “fish or cut bait” for Yates Construction — fire the contractor or approve a final price — at the meeting.
But the board will wait at least two more weeks to act. The commission will receive a report on the project at the meeting, but no recommendation or final price will be given, Smith said.
Emails from last fall revealed problems with the contractor. The project architect and a county official had criticized Yates. The main sticking point with the Destin firm is the contract price, and once both parties agree to a guaranteed maximum price, Yates, as construction manager, would cover all cost overruns and would not be allowed change orders.
For months, Yates and the county were far apart on price; in December, the company was still $2 million over the county’s $12.5 million budget.
The empty lot, downhill from the main courthouse, continues to frustrate county commissioners; they unanimously approved the project in November 2012, yet site work hasn’t begun and groundbreaking is about four months overdue.
Still, the two parties are “very close” to the county’s budget and the working relationship has improved, Smith said.
In the last few weeks, Yates thoroughly reviewed the project, cutting costs while maintaining functionality. The firm has submitted its final proposals to the county and predicts that will get the project under the $12.5 million mark.
“They have that in their hands,” said Mike Lovrekovic, the firm’s area manager.
Now it’s up to the county to plug in the recommendations and run the numbers, revealing the updated price.
Lovrekovic planned to attend Tuesday’s meeting but not address the board.
Despite the friction-filled relationship and media reports about the emails, Lovrekovic said the last two weeks have been “very positive” and the working relationship is good.
“We’re looking forward to getting started with construction,” he said.
Commissioner’s concern
Commissioner George Gainer, however, has not been pleased. As of Jan. 20, he wanted to fire the contractor and still wants Yates to straighten up and fly right.
The commissioner had a slightly more conciliatory tone Friday but is fully prepared to recommend giving Yates the boot if the annex isn’t within budget by the board’s Feb. 18 meeting.
“If we’re going to have the same problems we have had … we need to just go ahead and cut our losses and just consider that time lost and start all over,” he said.
Gainer doesn’t want to start over because so much time — not to mention $35,000 — would be lost, but he’s willing to do it.
The county already made essentially all the concessions it can and he doesn’t intend to cut much more, he said. For example, the originally planned façade changed, reducing the cost but also its resemblance to the existing courthouse.
Gainer also was disgusted by the contractor’s level of communication and saw it as an object lesson, something to avoid in the future.
“If this is the best we can expect, then we need to start all over again,” he said.
Gainer said a drop dead decision day likely will be picked at the Tuesday meeting because definitive action must take place. He said if the commission concludes Yates can’t or won’t complete the project within the given budget, then the board must remove the firm.
The commissioner said he’ll be ready to request the relationship be terminated in the next couple of weeks. He said unless there’s a “really good reason” to delay a vote, he’d ask the board to replace Yates at the Feb. 18 meeting.
“The time has come to make it a boy or a girl — fish or cut bait,” Gainer said.
The board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday inside the Bay County Government Center at 840 W. 11th St. in Panama City. The meeting is open to the public.