Commissioners approve jail roof change order and retain counsel for generator, camera projects

The Washington County Commissioners Court approved several items affecting the county jail on Feb. 24. The court voted to approve change order No. 1 to the South Texas Buildcon LLC contract for the jail roof project, adding $25,900 and raising the contract total to $383,900. Mr. Bab described additional work discovered during the project — replacement of about 100 feet of gutter and six downspouts, repair and metal wrap of old dryer vents, lifting and fastening three small air‑conditioning units, and addressing an old 2‑inch gas line on the roof — and recommended performing those repairs now rather than returning later.

Separately, the court voted to retain the law firm Allison Bass McGee LLP to assist Washington County in pursuing potential legal action related to the jail emergency power and generator upgrade project with W Industries of Texas LLC; the county judge was authorized to execute the retainer agreement. The court also approved retaining Allison Bass McGee LLP for assistance with the county’s security surveillance camera installation project and authorized the judge to sign that retainer agreement as well.

Mr. Bab summarized project progress and said the work is about 70–75% complete and that the extra work was consistent with standard renovation findings: “as a project this big, as you get into it, you start finding other things that need to be repaired or that you need to do to add to enhance it and make it stronger and keep up with the warranty.” All three motions carried on voice votes; no roll-call tallies were recorded on the transcript.

The retainers signal the county’s intent to use outside counsel to pursue contractual or other remedies where staff consider them warranted; the court described the generator‑upgrade retainer as needed to ‘‘pursue further legal action if possible to resolve this matter in a way that’s favorable to both Washington County and equitable to industries.”