By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
EL RENO – Canadian County Commissioners have authorized paying $236,121 – and no more – for the new parking lot at the county assessor’s office.
Atlas Paving Co. had requested Canadian County pay another $22,580 for the parking lot replacement project. But commissioners refused, by a 3-0 vote at their April 22nd meeting.
“We received a bill for the project that was in excess of our ‘lump sum’ bid,” District 2 County Commissioner Dave Anderson said. “I went back and looked at the bid specifications that we sent out in our bid packet and then the contract we awarded.”
When Anderson was the Canadian County Commission chairman, the commissioners in October 2023 awarded Atlas Paving a $201,997 low bid to install a new asphalt parking lot for the County Assessor’s Office on N Choctaw across from the County Administration Building.
A first change order, for $7,628, was approved last December for King Electric to install a light pole and receptacle in the center of the parking lot. The El Reno company was initially awarded a $11,200 bid to provide an electric outlet and panel.
Commissioners approved the project’s second charge order, for $15,296, in January for Atlas Paving to stabilize the parking lot’s subgrade with a cement slurry under the pavement.
“The additional charge (by Atlas) is related to the discovery of some materials under the subgrade that needed to be removed; you couldn’t stabilize in that area,” Anderson explained. “The county districts sent dump trucks and an excavator over there, and we did the work of removing that material. We even brought some soil back in.
“(Atlas Paving is) saying that they had to do additional work because of that discovery.”
Referring to language in the bid specifications and contract, Commissioner Anderson said Canadian County should not have to pay any more for the project – beyond the previously approved lump sum and change order amounts.
“The fact that we had one change order related to the subgrade modification should have been enough of a precedent setting that if there was going to be any extra charges, they would need to do it through the change order process,” Anderson said.
The Canadian County Assessor’s Office parking lot had last been repaved in 2012.
“We’re mostly pleased with the parking lot,” Canadian County Assessor Matt Wehmuller said. “I know that they identified about a month’s time frame that this (project) should take. I was about three months. I know weather played a part in that, and I recognize that.”
Wehmuller pointed out the new light installed in the parking lot is not working because of damage to electrical lines during the pavement construction.
“We will communicate with Atlas about a repair to the damaged electrical conduit,” Commissioner Anderson said.
THIS AND THAT …
Among other business at their April 22nd weekly meeting, Canadian County Commissioners approved:
- Adding the maintenance of an elevator inside the future Canadian County Health Department building at 6100 E Highway 66 to the county’s contract with Otis Elevator.
- Designating the County Clerk purchasing department as the county’s purchasing agent for Title 61 bidding.
- A services agreement with Cox Business for Internet services at the old Department of Human Services office, 314 W Rogers.
- A resolution to proclaim April 22-24 as National Crime Victims Rights Week in Canadian County. Canadian County’s Coordinated Community Response Team presented the 34th annual crime victims vigil Monday night in Mustang.
- Resolutions to dispose of county equipment for District 1 – a 2005 Ford F-250, 2009 Kenworth winch truck, Massy Ferguson tractor, 2019 Bomag reclaimer, three-point disc, Lincoln welder, Omega air/hydraulic jack, Makita generator, John Deere flex-wing rotary cutter, and 2015 Laymoor broom. These items were sold at auction.
- Resolutions to dispose of county equipment for the County Clerk – five laser printers that were junked.
- Opening bids for a soil stabilizer/cold recycler for District 3 and heating, venting and air conditioning (HVAC) project for the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center. The bid awards were postponed indefinitely.
- Agreements with Banner, Calumet, Darlington, El Reno, Maple, Minco, Mustang, Riverside, Union City, and Yukon school districts to provide alternative education services as the Canadian County Children’s Justice Center for FY24-25.
- Acknowledging designation of Whitney Mathes and Heather Dunavin as requisitioning officers and Rita Johnson and Tamara Storrs as receiving officers for the Canadian County Health Department.
Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward presented the weekly county jail report showing a total population of 161 inmates, with 147 housed at the El Reno detention center and 14 others in contracted counties.
The total count is up by two from last week as 14 prisoners await transfer to state prison.
