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Commissioners approve multiple contracts and purchases including jail bunks, EMS medical director and UPS replacement
Summary
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners voted on multiple contracts and purchases during its May 29 open session, approving jail bunk replacements, an expanded EMS medical‑director contract with Johns Hopkins, UPS replacement for the county computer room and other routine and emergency procurements.
The Carroll County Board of Commissioners voted on multiple procurement and contract items during its May 29 meeting. The board approved a mix of sole‑source items, routine purchases and emergency procurements to maintain county operations.
Key approvals included:
- Two MaxSecure wall‑mounted bunk beds for the Detention Center (sole source) — $29,938.86. County procurement presented the request and correctional staff explained the beds are designed to reduce self‑harm, contraband concealment and use of furniture as weapons in high‑risk housing areas. The motion to approve passed by voice vote.
- Medical director contract with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine — not to exceed $149,100 annually (FY26). The Department of Fire & EMS said Maryland regulations require an EMS medical director; the county has contracted with Johns Hopkins for the past three years and currently receives clinical education, quality assurance and on‑scene response from Dr. Stephanie Kemp and other Johns Hopkins physicians. The motion passed by voice vote.
- Purchase of medical supplies and accessories from Bound Tree Medical — $36,565.57. The purchase uses a competitively bid Fairfax County contract and covers stocked disposable supplies for Fire & EMS. Approved by voice vote.
- Emergency generator rental for Freedom District Water Treatment Plant (Universal Utilities) — $29,455. County staff said a 600 kW backup generator was offline for about seven weeks while replacement parts were obtained; rental and connection of an emergency unit maintained the plant’s operations. The board approved the award under term contract authority.
- Change order to HTI Contractors for additional excavation and work on valve assemblies in the Freedom District — $23,390. Staff explained unexpected deeper installations and floatable fill at seven locations required additional excavation, shoring and crew time; the board approved the change order exceeding the 10% threshold requiring board approval.
- Encumbrance for energy‑management control services with Johnson Controls (term contract 12143) — $612,900 for FY26 ($458,372 county facilities; $154,528 Carroll Community College). Facilities staff said Johnson Controls has supported preventive maintenance on large mechanical systems across county buildings and replacing the system would be costly; the board approved the encumbrance.
- Purchase and installation of an ASCO Series 300 manual transfer switch (Universal Utilities) for the County Office Building — $31,500. After recent outage‑related delays when technicians manually connected a portable generator, staff recommended a docking station to reduce downtime; the board approved the purchase.
- Computer room uninterruptible power supply (UPS) replacement (Graybar via OMNIA Partners cooperative) — $276,985.99. IT staff said the existing UPS is between 25 and 30 years old; a study confirmed upgraded capacity is needed to support modern server and networking equipment. The board approved the purchase; lead time was reported at 12–15 weeks.
- HTI change order and other ongoing utility maintenance work were approved, and the board approved a procedural change to the Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP): moving the start date for monthly payments to the month the member turns 60 (rather than a semi‑annual start), a change the comptroller’s office and the LOSAP chair said would simplify processing and produce modest savings ($1,682 remainder of 2025; $11,411 estimated 2026 savings based on current enrollments).
All motions listed above carried without recorded roll‑call tallies in the transcript; commissioners indicated approval by voice. No legislative ordinances or resolutions were adopted during these procurement votes; each item was presented as a departmental contract, purchase order or change order and approved as such.
The board also handled several other routine agenda items during the same session (procurements for facilities preventive maintenance, public works pipelines and chip‑seal projects), but the items above were the principal financial and operational approvals recorded in the transcript.
