County takes bids under advisement for highway storage facility and jail HVAC; consultants to interview low bidders

Randolph County opened sealed bids for two major capital projects and deferred awards while staff and consultants verify compliance with design parameters.

For the highway storage facility the bids read into the record included TD Construction Company (base bid $815,000), Whitesen/Whitson Hunt (base bid $635,000 / $635,600 noted), Thor Construction ($589,000) and Marlli General Contractor Inc. ($575,194.09). Commissioners took the bids under advisement and asked Maze Design to review the documents and perform follow-up interviews with apparent low bidders before the board makes a final award at its meeting in two weeks.

The board also opened bids for HVAC, plumbing and institutional fixture work at the county jail. A figure read for Carol Electric was recorded as 6,166,332 (transcript format ambiguous) and Whitson Hunt provided a bid near 5,540,000. County staff clarified the project includes HVAC plus plumbing upgrades, showers and institutional toilet units. Argo Consulting (Tony Jacobs) and Maze Design said they would review scope and interview contractors before recommending an award.

Why it matters: both projects represent multi-hundred-thousand-dollar (and, in one transcript line, multi-million-dollar-format) procurements that affect county infrastructure and operating budgets. The board will not finalize awards until consultants confirm bidders have included required items and meet design parameters.

Next steps: Maze Design and Argo Consulting will complete their reviews and return recommendations at the next regular commissioners meeting.