Oklahoma County project team reports progress on jail and behavioral care center despite geotech challenges

Oklahoma County project staff and contractor representatives updated the committee on July 20 on progress at two related construction projects: a behavioral care center and a new adult detention facility. Staff said the behavioral center contract has increased from $44,400,000 to $47,260,000 with change orders and that about $1,600,000 of furniture and equipment has been purchased.

The update was presented by county project staff (Stacy) and FlintCo representatives including Gianni Romero and Ron Warner. "The contract amount was $44,400,000... The value is now $47,260,000," Stacy said, and noted the team has purchased about $1,600,000 worth of FF&E and received a $390,000 bid for structured cabling. Romero said exterior site paving for the behavioral care center is roughly 75% complete and that interior work has moved to painting and acoustical grid installation. "We're about 75% complete with the site paving on the exterior," Romero said.

Committee members pressed staff on federal ARPA timelines and milestones. Staff responded that ARPA funds are being spent first and that they are aiming to be out of ARPA funds by the end of September; Treasury guidance remains the final authority on allowable use and timing. Members asked staff to identify an intermediate milestone between a ribbon cutting and final punch-list completion so the county can mark ARPA expenditure milestones appropriately.

On the adult detention facility, Ron Warner and FlintCo site lead Kirk Mammon described geotechnical variability that required deeper piers than expected in some areas. Warner summarized the project's financial posture: the jail's guaranteed maximum price was reported at about $206,000,000 plus additional FF&E; the bond includes roughly $15,000,000 not yet encumbered and nearly $20,000,000 in contingency within the GMP. Staff said contingency funds were set aside for subsurface unknowns and are expected to cover identified overruns. "We went down to 90 feet and only got 2 piers a day, which understandably made me very nervous," Mammon said, describing the most challenging bore locations and emphasizing that additional borings and test holes have been added to refine pier depth estimates and improve production rates.

Contractors said they are increasing crews and shifting equipment (bringing smaller rigs for shallow holes and additional crews for deep work) to recover schedule. They also noted long-lead items—precast pods, mechanical/electrical equipment and millwork—remain the longest-path items to completion. For the behavioral care center, the team cited a revised substantial-completion target in late December for some scope items and ongoing punch-list work beyond that date.

No formal actions on the construction items were taken at the meeting; the committee approved routine meeting minutes and later adjourned. Chair Steve Mason said he may move the committee's next meeting to Wednesday, Aug. 12 to allow discussion of jail financing.

The committee session concluded without votes on contracts or change orders; members asked staff to return with clarifying milestones for ARPA expenditures and continued updates on geotechnical work and schedule adjustments.