Board retroactively approves $634,478 construction management agreement for 2024 pavement rehab

The Lake County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to approve an agreement with engineering firm GHD for construction management, inspection and materials testing services on the 2024 pavement rehabilitation project, authorizing the chair to sign a contract not to exceed $634,478 with a retroactive effective date of June 1, 2025.

Interim Public Works Director Lars Ewing told the board that contractor Argonaut Constructors began work on about 16 miles of roadway on or around June 2 and that GHD has already been performing construction management and materials testing. "They moved ahead in good faith that there would be an agreement. They have been performing the work, and it's actually well ahead of schedule," Ewing said.

Ewing said the county expects the final cost to be lower than the contract cap for two reasons: Argonaut's pace reduces the number of days construction management crews are needed, and the county plans to assign more of its own engineering inspection staff to the project. "I'm gonna attempt to get some of our staff out there, the engineers and engineering technicians, to do some of the work, so there'll be some cost savings there," he said.

Supervisor Sabatier expressed frustration with approving a contract after work has begun and emphasized a preference for using in-house staff where possible: "I wanna see our people working, not us spending money on others," Sabatier said, but she voted to approve the agreement because the work was already underway.

The board authorized the chair to sign the agreement and approved the retroactive effective date to June 1, 2025. No amendments or specific budget transfers were recorded in the meeting minutes; staff indicated SB 1 funds are the likely funding source for the project.

The motion passed on a unanimous 5-0 vote.