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Grant County amends jail design contract, assigns scoping work to BOT developer and approves $50,000 ARPA scoping payment
Summary
The Grant County Board of Commissioners approved an amendment to remove a $1.5 million scoping fee from its design contract with RQAW, authorized assignment of the contract to a BOT developer (BW), and approved a $50,000 Phase 1 scoping payment from ARPA, pending county legal review for the professional services agreement.
Grant County commissioners voted to amend the county’s August design contract with engineering firm RQAW to remove a previously noted $1,500,000 scoping fee and limit RQAW’s recoverable payments to reimbursable, out-of-pocket expenses. The amendment passed on a unanimous voice vote.
County counsel and staff said the amendment narrows the county’s upfront financial exposure and that the scoping phase will instead be limited to actual expenses such as permits or soil borings. "This amendment will amend the original contract, and take out the...$1,500,000 scoping fee," the county representative explained during the meeting. Commissioners also discussed that reimbursable items would not include overhead or profit.
Following that amendment, commissioners approved assigning the amended RQAW contract to the county’s selected build-operate-transfer (BOT) developer, referred to in the meeting as BW. Counsel said section 10.3 of the original contract permits assignment of the owner’s rights and obligations to a developer; the assignment likewise passed unanimously.
Bill Galvin, representing BW, attended the meeting and was introduced to commissioners before the vote. Commissioners and staff described the BOT structure as a way to consolidate responsibility for design and construction under a single developer rather than having the county manage multiple subcontractors.
Separately, commissioners approved a professional services scoping agreement with BW for Phase 1, described at the meeting as a lump-sum payment of $50,000 to be paid from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. That Phase-1 payment was presented as funding to evaluate options such as juvenile housing and bed needs and to produce recommendations for the county. Approval of the scoping agreement was stated as pending review and sign-off by the county’s internal attorney.
The board’s actions were presented as exploratory: several speakers emphasized that approving the amendment, assignment and scoping work did not authorize construction of a new jail but would instead produce options and cost estimates for the county to consider.
The commission approved the amendment, the assignment to BW and the scoping agreement (pending legal approval) by unanimous voice vote. Next steps identified at the meeting include counsel review of the scoping agreement, ongoing work by the county review committee, and receipt of the scoping deliverables to inform further decisions.
