Hall County approves courthouse change order amid construction concerns, awards road project bids

The Hall County Board of Commissioners approved change order No. 6 for the ongoing courthouse construction project after contractors encountered unsuitable soil that required additional excavation and crushed concrete backfill. The change order, which covers Court Street repair and related remediation work, passed on a 5–2 vote after commissioners questioned the volume of crushed material used and asked for clearer engineer justification.

During discussion, commissioners raised concerns about compaction quantities and the number of truckloads of crushed concrete. Project staff and an engineer explained crews removed unsuitable soil and brought in crushed rock to meet compaction specifications; the project team said the walls and footings will receive four layers of waterproofing and additional drain tile to limit water intrusion. One commissioner asked that the architect or chief engineer attend the next meeting to answer technical questions; project staff agreed to arrange that briefing.

Separately, the board opened seven sealed bids for project C40(562) and referred them to public works for review before later awarding the contract to Ramos Construction of Grand Island as the low, responsive bidder. The board also awarded an engineering contract for overlay project C40(565) to SPE Lewis Engineering for $10,000 (lowest quote submitted), and approved several smaller facilities purchases including replacement courthouse cameras.

Recorded votes in the meeting include the change order (5 yes, 2 no), the Ramos award (unanimous), and the engineering contract (unanimous). Commissioners asked staff to ensure contractors and engineers document quantities and compaction tests to support the change order expenditures and to provide those documents when the board follows up.