Berkeley County approves jail expansion change orders, electronics upgrade and emergency HVAC purchase

Berkeley County Council on the finance committee approved a suite of change orders and emergency purchases tied to the county jail expansion and the detention center, including a $154,383.23 charge to the general fund; a $658,217.54 electronics integration for the jail expansion; and a $62,749.50 emergency HVAC purchase for a three-story housing unit at the detention center.

The approvals follow staff reports that the change orders include reductions to the general contract, structural upgrades and fire suppression work that together produce a $154,383.23 impact to the county general fund and a $271,215.04 total project impact that staff said had already been accounted for in project bookkeeping. "The total impact to the general budget will be $154,383.23," said Mr. Canarens, a county staff member presenting the change order collection. The council approved the package by voice vote.

The finance committee also approved a $658,217.54 change order described as electronic integration for the expansion, which staff said adds functionality and consolidates programmable logic controller systems to integrate the existing facility with the new expansion. Separately, the council approved an emergency purchase order for a 27.5-ton replacement HVAC unit for the detention center for $62,749.50; staff said the unit is a direct OEM replacement with a 12- to 13-week lead time and that an additional one-year labor warranty will be purchased.

Council debate centered on cost control and project oversight. Councilman Tommy Newell said he understood residents' concerns but added, "this jail need to be completed," and that the sheriff had advocated for the work. Councilman Steve Davis praised county staff for vetting change orders and said their review saved money: "DK and the staff here at Berkeley County have done a phenomenal job of vetting those change orders and making sure they're sufficient ... You've saved us a lot of money just by saying no."

Staff explained some additional costs were triggered by on-site inspections. The presenter said two fire-code items were identified by a local inspector from the Town of Moncks Corner after subcontractor and contractor review; one sprinkler riser room was added at the inspector's direction and a horn/strobe reconnection was required post-construction. Staff also said structural slab reinforcement was necessary after the original pile system was removed during bidding, a change that staff said ultimately produced construction savings elsewhere; the presenter stated the rework saved about $2,000,000 during the bid phase.

Council members asked where the $154,383.23 would come from; staff confirmed the funding source as general fund balances. Several members discussed the lack of a contingency line on the original project budget and the practice of requiring change orders to return to council. One council member recommended restoring a contingency for future building projects so minor unforeseen items would not require repeated council action.

The committee recorded the following formal actions: approval of the jail expansion change orders (general fund impact $154,383.23), denial of several small change orders with a combined potential value of $5,430.13, acceptance of a cost-neutral change order valued at $88,027.61, acknowledgment of a staff removal of a change order totaling $271,215.04, approval of the Veil expansion electronics integration for $658,217.54, and approval of the emergency HVAC purchase for $62,749.50. All motions were carried by voice vote.