Morrow County delays jail construction bid opening to Nov. 17; pre-bid walkthrough set for Oct. 8

County project staff told the Morrow County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 15 that the second bid process for a jail construction project has been delayed and rescheduled.

Recker, who provided the project update, said the county is extending the bid opening date from Oct. 9 to Nov. 17 and moving the time to 1:30 p.m. He said the change is intended to allow contractors more time to gather subcontractor pricing and that construction requirements will be released to start next year rather than this year. "Instead of having it on October 9, we're now going to extend the date to November 17," Recker said. "It's a Monday. And instead of doing it in the morning, it'll be at 01:30 in the afternoon to allow contractors, to get their numbers in from their subs."

Recker also said the pre-bid walkthrough at the jail will be Oct. 8 at 1 p.m. and that the county's engineering consultant DLZ will post an addendum to the project listing on the county website with the updated times and requirements. "I'm supposed to get the addendum language tomorrow ... That will be listed on our website so that if anybody were to Google our project, it'll pop up there," Recker said.

Commissioners did not record a formal vote on the schedule change during the transcript; Recker framed the update as staff action and a request that the committee allow the changes. The transcript includes a later remark that "The ORC doesn't necessarily give a clear definition on how to, undo some of the things we've always done," which staff raised while discussing compliance and process; the meeting record does not specify any ordinance or statutory citation beyond the shorthand "ORC."