Contractor: Behavioral care center foundation work largely complete; contingency remains small

The Oversight Committee for the New Adult Detention Center and Behavioral Care Center heard an update on construction progress at the Behavioral Care Center on July 15, 2025.

Flintco project lead Josh Patterson said foundations and underground utilities are underway and that "the first slab on grade will pour next Tuesday," with structural steel mobilizing in August and exterior framing starting in September. Patterson said the team is "looking for structural top out here in the fourth quarter of this year," with permanent power expected in 2026 and a "substantial completion" target of Oct. 28, 2026 and final completion in December 2026.

Committee members asked how much of the schedule slip was weather-related and about contingency levels. Patterson said the project has incurred about a month of delay versus an original Sept. 30 substantial-completion target because of wet spring weather and soil conditions, and he repeated the Oct. 28 target. He told the committee the project contingency currently stands at about $300,000 on an approximately $44 million contract; when asked, he said that "it feels a little light." (That figure contrasts with an earlier report that contingency had been effectively zero.)

Stacy (project staff) provided program-level finance figures attached to the agenda: $18.5 million in recent payouts, about $19 million expended on the new jail components so far, about $88 million expended on ARPA projects with roughly $60 million pending, and roughly $218 million in bond proceeds that have not yet been released. Stacy said the owner's representative for the ARPA portfolio and the BCC work is Bill White & Associates and described the firm's contract components as including federal-compliance oversight, design review, construction oversight and payment support; the owner's representative allocated fees to individual projects after the Board of County Commissioners approved the overall contract.

Committee members pressed Flintco on how much weather and soil issues had delayed work and whether the team expected further soil‑related costs as the project moves toward adjacent jail construction. Patterson said the jail structure will use pile foundations (piers) rather than the spread footings used at the BCC, and some stabilization work has already been priced into the jail estimate to support heavy cranes and precast erection.

Discussion-only items included the need for additional detail on contingency, and requests for the contractor and staff to return with more precise schedules and cost breakdowns. No formal procurement action or change order was approved during the meeting; committee members voted to continue oversight and to request further scope and cost detail in subsequent briefings.

The committee also had operational questions about systems that the future operator will select (for example, nurse-call systems and medical records) and confirmed those selections will be made by the operator and then installed by Flintco.

The update closed with committee direction to have staff and the contractor refine cost and schedule detail and return to the committee for follow-up.