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County selects Melvin Engineering for Holmes Valley Gateway project; approves transfer of Highway 79 utilities to Bonifay
Summary
The commission awarded the Holmes Valley Gateway engineering contract to DHM Melvin Engineering after presentations and committee scoring; commissioners also approved documents that begin the transfer of Highway 79 corridor utilities from the regional authority to the City of Bonifay and authorized the chairman to sign class-action opioid settlement DocuSign agreements when presented.
The Washington County commission took several infrastructure actions: it awarded the Holmes Valley Gateway (D0331) engineering contract to DHM Melvin Engineering, heard competing presentations on project scope and funding gaps, and approved an interlocal assignment to transfer Highway 79 corridor utility assets to the City of Bonifay.
DHM Melvin Engineering was the staff-recommended firm after RFQ scoring and a short presentation. Melvin’s presentation emphasized local experience and a history of similar rural road-to-pavement projects. Panhandle Engineering also presented and flagged funding uncertainty: a cost-estimate supplied with the grant application was about $8.2 million while Panhandle’s in-house estimate was roughly $5.4 million, representing a possible funding gap that the company said could be addressed through additional grant pursuit, legislative appropriations, developer contributions and deductive alternates.
After discussion, the commission voted to award the engineering contract to Melvin; staff and commissioners noted that cost opinions will be updated as the design progresses and that creative funding strategies may be required if bids exceed available grant awards.
On Highway 79 corridor matters, commissioners approved a resolution authorizing the chairman to sign interlocal and assignment documents required to transfer utility infrastructure from the multi-jurisdictional corridor authority to the City of Bonifay. The county — identified as the DEO grant recipient — will assign the grant to Bonifay; the authority’s ownership of the system will be transferred to the city, which will operate and maintain the utilities. Closing was anticipated around June 1, but staff warned a special final audit and additional closing items could push administrative steps into the next fiscal year. Any residual funds in the authority account would be split between Washington and Holmes counties, though staff said they expect little remaining funding after final audit costs.
Separately, the board approved a motion authorizing the chairman to sign opioid settlement DocuSign agreements for the county as those settlement layers arrive; staff said these are routine class-action settlement instruments and that amounts in recent layers have been modest.
The board also approved April vouchers totaling $4,654,949.89.
