Columbia County Public Works committee approves grants, contracts and change orders; rejects Pollard House bids

The Public Works and Engineering Services Committee of Columbia County on Nov. 25 approved a series of contracts, grant applications and change orders and moved to reject bids on the Pollard House renovation so the project can be redesigned and rebid.

In a meeting led by the committee chair (identified in the transcript as Speaker 2), staff presented a Georgia Department of Human Services grant for senior transit and recommended board signature on the contract. A presenter (Speaker 5) said the grant is reimbursed in fiscal 2026 at “$18 per bridal,” language taken verbatim from the transcript; the transcript does not clarify the meaning of that phrase. The committee added donations for animal services and approved a service agreement with the Columbia County Library System that the library board had already approved.

The committee rejected bids on the Pollard House renovation after staff reported market-driven cost increases. Speaker 7 told members the project will be value-engineered and that redesign and rebid would likely take three to four months. “We are rejecting bids and going back to the… project, value engineer this project, so we need to knock out quite a bit of money on this,” Speaker 7 said.

Members approved a…