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Barns, senior services and Spectrum delays: buildings and grounds reports progress and budget pressure on county projects
Summary
County buildings and grounds staff reported construction progress on multiple barn and facility projects, noted a Spectrum business account lead time that may delay system hookups, and flagged an expected $35,000 shortfall on one ARPA-funded project alongside available contingency.
Washington County buildings-and-grounds staff updated supervisors on June 24 about multiple capital projects, reporting steady construction progress at several sites, a significant lead time for Spectrum business installations that could delay system commissioning, and anticipated budget pressure on ARPA-funded work.
Projects and progress: staff said concrete work at one barn (Fort M) is largely complete, with about 60% of a recent pour finished and roughly 40–50 contractors on site during peak days. The county expects finishing work on multiple projects this summer and said the target for occupancy or move-in is roughly July to September for various buildings, with public-health relocation planned for August.
Connectivity delays: staff flagged a 60–90 day lead time for Spectrum business connections and said the county is pre-burying conduit and scheduling trench work to avoid further delay. “It’s not like your house when you call and they just come schedule appointment next week… there’s, like, supposedly a 60 to 90 day lead time for the business count,” buildings staff said, urging early ordering and conduit installation to get ahead of the timeline.
Budget and contingencies: the county’s project budget was cited at about $4.1 million in total (contracts, owner’s rep and related costs). Staff reported contract-level contingencies of approximately $148,000 across contracts but said they expect to be roughly $35,000 short of finishing costs based on special inspections and other soft costs that were higher than estimated. One specific unplanned expense cited was roughly $38,000 for special inspections tied to abatement monitoring. Staff said they will review options and may request a budget amendment or reallocate ARPA-encumbered funds to cover overages.
Staff noted that some unspent ARPA funds already encumbered for other projects could be shifted between already-approved ARPA lines if necessary. “They are going to allow us to move money between projects that were already encumbered,” a project manager said, meaning leftover ARPA balances could be repurposed to finish the current projects if warranted.
Next steps: buildings staff said they will continue coordination with contractors, press for expedited Spectrum service where possible, and present a more detailed finance update to the finance committee with line-item projections and contingency usage in the coming weeks.
