Commissioners Overmyer,Burroughs question $349K paving project with bids

During the County Commissioners meeting on August 5, Highway Superintendent Jason Peters presented a bid and contract from E&B Paving work on Union Road.

He asked the commissioners to approve both.

The county contracted with LaPorte Construction to complete work on bridge #11 on Union Road. LaPorte Construction hired E&B Paving to pave the approaches and bridge deck.  Since E&B Paving was on-site, it was suggested to have them pave Union Road from U.S. 60 to Plymouth LaPorte Trail with one continuous project.

Commissioner Kevin Overmyer asked if the work was already completed and Peters said, “They are just finishing up today if weather permits.” 

Commissioner President Stan Klotz stated that the commissioners needed to approve the contract and Peters said both the bid documents and contract agreement. 

Overmyer questioned, “Shouldn’t that have all been done before hand?”

Peters said it came in and the commissioners didn’t have a meeting before.  He said, “They were already there finishing up the bridge deck so it’s just kind of going retro.” 

County Attorney Jim Clevenger asked if the project was bid.

“No, we just went with them being they were already out there for the contract on the bridge,” Peters replied

Clevenger then asked why the paving project wasn’t bid and Peters again said, “The biggest reason was they were just there and continued doing right off the bridge decks and doing one continuous pour.“ At that point, the county attorney stated, “I don’t know that that is an exception to the requirements.” 

Commissioner Overmyer asked Commissioner Klotz if he knew about the paving and he said the APR Committee, of which he is a member, discussed using ARP funds to pay for this paving project 10 days to two weeks earlier. Overmyer then asked if he knew E&B was already paving and he said yes, after the fact.

Overmyer asked Klotz what he wanted to do with the issue and Klotz said, “At this point in time, I don’t know that we have a lot of choice.  It’s something we talked about and was going to make a recommendation to do.  But they (E&B) were there and went ahead but they didn’t have approval from the highway department.”   

The bid and contract amount were $394,680. 

While Commissioner Klotz wanted to pay for the work using APR funds, County Auditor Angie Birchmeier said those funds are scrutinized very closely and since the bids and contract weren’t approved and signed before the work, the county would be in trouble with the State Board of Accounts.   

Commissioner Mike Burroughs said, “To me, getting a recommendation to do something is not an approval to do something.” 

The county’s attorney said approving a project before you have the funding in place would be another big issue. 

Commissioner Overmyer moved to table payment to E&B Paving until the August 19 meeting hoping to get additional clarification on the approval for paving.  His motion was seconded by Commissioner Burroughs and there was a unanimous vote of support.