PANAMA CITY — The county will unveil plans for its long-delayed courthouse annex building at a Feb. 18 commission meeting, a top official said Tuesday.
In a brief report, County Manager Ed Smith said the county and the contractor are “very close” to presenting a design to the board that is within the budgeted $12.5 million. The project has been stalled for months because the county and the contractor couldn’t come to terms on the project.
In December, the annex was $2 million over budget, but the contractor and county whittled down its scope. The price hang-up led to acrimony between the contractor, Destin-based Yates Construction, and the county and architect.
The commission must approve the contractor’s guaranteed maximum price before construction moves forward.
Commissioner George Gainer, who is serving as project liaison, will review the latest plans and meet with the contractor, architect and county staff before the meeting.
“This had dragged for a while as you know,” Smith said at a board meeting. “And it was pretty well-documented that we hit some bumps in the road, and we think we are past most of those, but still we’re not ready to bring you anything here today.”
Gainer has harshly criticized the contractor for its role in delaying the project, even wanting to fire the firm. On Tuesday, he mostly held his fire, saying he would wait to fully lay out his position at the Feb. 18 meeting.
“The biggest thing here is — get this thing resolved and get it moved forward. … We’ve waited long enough now. Everybody needs to get to the table and make a decision; make it a boy or a girl,” he said.
Gainer told county staff he wanted the project on the next meeting’s agenda; it was not on Tuesday’s agenda. He has said previously that he will ask the board to remove Yates at the next commission meeting unless there’s a “really good reason” to hold off.
Despite the report and discussion Tuesday, county officials made no guarantees a price would accompany the plans at the Feb. 18 meeting, which would enable the board to vote, a crucial step in moving the project forward. The commission also didn’t set a hard deadline for Yates, which Gainer had said might happen.
The firm’s area manager, Mike Lovrekovic, attended the meeting but didn’t speak. He said in an interview he thought a price would be ready by Feb. 18. “I think we can put our heads together and work something out,” he said.
Lovrekovic said the judges have been “very cooperative” on the project but indicated some may want to do too much on a $12.5 million budget.
“Our primary responsibility is to keep the project under budget. … And on the other side,” he said, “you have a group of individuals that are trying to get as much (out of) that courthouse as they possibly can get, to get the best bang for their buck.
“And they are very passionate about that as well; we are very passionate about holding the line on the budget.”
Lovrekovic said the parties made “great strides” recently and spoke positively about the working relationship with the county. He also discussed Gainer, calling him “very passionate about getting what he wants” on the annex. The contractor said he appreciates Gainer’s position because the commissioner has spent years working to make the annex a reality.
“Again he’s trying to get the most that he can for his money, and I understand that,” Lovrekovic said.
In other business Tuesday, the board:
-Voted to purchase three Caterpillar motor graders for $335,920. The original price was $661,920 but trade-in allowances cut $326,000 off the price.
-Awarded the Bay County Bullet the contract to publish delinquent property tax notices in 5,000 copies of the paper. The Bullet’s bid was less than The News Herald’s at 5,000 copies. The commission chose to forego a cheaper option to publish the notices in only 850 copies of the Bullet.
-Approved extending the payment window on emergency medical services bills. The window was expanded from 90 to 270 days before the bills are passed off to a collections agency.