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County staff seek quotes to replace health‑department air handlers and upgrade controls; ESS named sole‑source for controls
Summary
Dougherty County facilities staff on April 14 presented quotes to replace two air handlers at the Health Department and upgrade building controls, and separately to replace a chiller and upgrade controls at the Robert Cross Event Center; ESS was presented as the sole‑source controls vendor compatible with the county’s existing control software.
County facilities staff presented several facilities maintenance recommendations April 14, including replacement of two air-handling units (AHUs) at the Dougherty County Health Department and an ESS-provided controls upgrade, plus a separate chiller replacement and ESS controls upgrade at the Robert Cross Event Center.
Assistant County Administrator Barry Brooks and Facilities Director Heidi Haley explained the AHU work was budgeted in SPLOST 7 and that service quotes were received: Service Pros (Leesburg, GA) quoted $74,565 for the AHU replacements and ESS (Albany, GA) quoted $71,596.45 for the control upgrade, for a combined total of $146,161.45. For the Robert Cross Event Center chiller replacement, the ESS controls quote was $30,225.12 and the total package quoted was $82,893.08; funding was budgeted in SPLOST 7 and 8.
Discussion and concerns: Commissioners raised questions about the solicitation approach. Commissioner Johnson asked whether controls were being procured as a sole-source item; Facilities responded that the county already uses a single control software footprint countywide and that ESS is the vendor compatible with existing software. Commissioners and staff discussed tradeoffs: a single-vendor control platform can reduce long-term software-management complexity but may limit competition. Commissioner voices urged staff to periodically rebid or reassess sole-source relationships and to ensure opportunities for other vendors on future new-builds.
Why it matters: Staff said a consistent control system reduces the operational burden of maintaining multiple vendor software platforms, and cited past outages and building closures when older controls failed. County procurement and facilities staff agreed to document vendor selection history and consider rebids when multi-building contracts come due.
Quotes (selected): "We did a lot of homework before we decided to go with ESS because I did not want the County and the taxpayers to end up in the same situation we are right now," Facilities Director Heidi Haley said. Commissioner Johnson said, "We may need to look and have other discussions when we're doing new buildings than when we are doing whole new systems to make sure ... we give a fair opportunity."
Ending: The agenda presented quotes and sole-source justification; no formal award or final board vote is recorded in the transcript. Staff said they will continue standard procurement steps and consider rebidding options for future work and larger multi-year contracts.
