Cass County commissioners threaten to sue over jail expansion

After many delays and additional costs, the Cass County commissioners are threatening to sue jail expansion contractor Construction Control Inc. (CCI).

“We’re pissed off about the direction of this project, the management that has been presented from CCI and the planning by Elevatus (Architecture),” Commissioner Ryan Browning said at a Feb. 22 commissioners’ meeting.

The commissioners have approved multiple batches of work change orders at recent meetings, but they said there should not be that many problems. Some of the recently approved changes were passed under duress because, while the commissioners do not want to pay for the mistakes, they also do not want to further delay the expansion.

“Once again, our hands are tied,” Browning said at the Feb. 22 meeting. “We have to spend another $1,583 to keep from holding up this project because of mistakes that were made that should have been caught. … We are paying for a hell of a lot of mistakes, and it’s ridiculous.”

John Painter, vice president of field operations at CCI, said at previous commissioners’ meetings that many of the mistakes were made in the original blueprints and designs. He said the project has not gone over budget, but the change orders have made a dent in the project’s contingency account.

“So far, the overall budget has not been affected because of a contingency fund,” Painter said. “When they were originally asked to make the project, they put additional funds in to cover change orders.”

Painter said that over $600,000 has been taken from the contingency fund to cover the costs of approved change orders. That price pales in comparison to the expansion’s hefty $23.5 million price tag, according to the commissioners’ attorney Jeff Stanton.

However, the commissioners said $600,000 is still way too high.

“Why is the county being billed for another mistake?” Browning asked. “ … You’re moving money from one fund to another to cover mistake after mistake.”

Stanton said he was able to count at least 135 change orders. Some of those orders were requested by the county or resulted from other changes, but Stanton said the number of change orders is still higher than expected.

Despite the amount of change orders, Painter said the change orders alone have not set the project’s timeline back significantly. The expansion was originally supposed to be finished before the end of last year, but supply issues and delays set the completion date back to this spring.

Painter said CCI is now planning to complete the project in April. The biggest hurdles to finishing the project are currently electrical and painting issues. He also said that there are some additional changes to the ceilings.

“The work that’s going on is top quality work,” he said.

Regardless of the work’s quality, the commissioners said they would not recommend CCI to other governments.

“We do have other counties calling us and asking for recommendations of your company. How would you answer those questions?” Browning asked Painter at the meeting. Painter declined to comment.

Stanton said although Painter has taken the brunt of the commissioners’ displeasure, he is just trying to do his job.

“John is trying,” Stanton said. “He is simply trying to do what he’s supposed to do on behalf of the construction manager.”

The commissioners are expressing their frustration now because of the delays, the change orders and concerns about Punch List items that will need to be fixed before the new expansion can be used. However, Stanton said there have been difficulties with the project from the start.

He was unsure of the original completion date on the project, but he believes it was at some point last year. He also said he will not be surprised if the certificate of occupancy is not signed until this summer.

“That’s really a benchmark date, that certificate of occupancy,” Stanton said. “When that’s signed, it’s a telltale sign, as it relates to the bond and the bond (repayment).”

He believes the jail’s completion will be a relief for everyone.

“The commissioners are working very, very hard on this,” he said. “It’s important to them that they are being good stewards of the county’s money.”

Stanton said many county employees, commissioners included, work long hours and complete much more work than community members see on the surface. There are progress meetings on the jail expansion every week, and he said Sheriff Ed Schroder, Cass County Building Superintendent Richard Gundrum and the commissioners have spent countless hours on the project.

“The commissioners work really hard. Not only the current commissioners, but former commissioners (as well),” Stanton said. “They worked hard on this project and it means a lot to them. They want to put together a good project for the community and the citizens.”