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Committee approves exception and will ask Budget Commission to reallocate funds for Hollows drainage project
Summary
The committee authorized proceeding with a change-order plan for The Hollows drainage project, acknowledged a bid/exemption issue and agreed to ask the Budget Commission to reallocate funds from another capital project to cover the shortfall instead of ARPA.
The committee reviewed change orders and procurement questions on a drainage project known in the meeting as "The Hollows." Committee members and county staff described a scope and bidding misunderstanding involving interior and exterior utilities that left some work unbid and therefore not eligible under the originally identified ARPA funding rules.
County engineering staff documented the issue and provided a corrective-action plan. The committee approved moving forward with completing the work to avoid interrupting construction and agreed to send a recommendation to the Budget Commission to reallocate capital funds (including funds currently associated with the Westmoreland EMS station) to cover approximately $120,000 of work so ARPA money would not be used for an unbid, foreseeable item that may not meet federal procurement rules (2 CFR) for ARPA-funded work.
County legal counsel advised the committee that unbidding items post-award creates pitfalls and that honoring the contractor to finish the work and seeking retroactive funding reallocation was the path of least resistance. The committee approved the step and asked staff to present the funding reallocation to the Budget Commission.
Why it matters: The decision keeps the Hollows project moving but requires staff to identify a compliant funding source and return to the Budget Commission to reassign funds; it also highlights procurement documentation and engineering-specification clarity for future projects.
The committee instructed engineering and finance staff to prepare documentation for the Budget Commission vote and to provide required corrective-action documentation and training to reduce future bid interpretation errors.
