The end may finally be in sight for the
old jail, parts of which are over
100 years old
MONTICELLO – New bids for the Sullivan County Jail construction project were opened on Wednesday with the same apparent low bidder as the first time.
The initial bids were tossed because the county felt they did not meet insurance requirements.
County officials will go over the three bids – from The Pike Company, P.J. Dick Incorporated, and Jersen Construction Group, LLC – before declaring the apparent low bidder. The county legislature has a special meeting scheduled this afternoon.
An initial look at the bids indicates The Pike Company submitted the low base bid Wednesday at $64.386 million. It also submitted the apparent low bid when including alternative No. 1, including construction of the sheriff’s administration and road patrol in the same building. That bid came in at $72.24 million.
County Manager Josh Potosek supports constructing those additional facilities in the same location saying it makes the most sense.
“If we didn’t include it, there still an issue of where do
we put the sheriff’s administration and road patrol,” he said.
“The building they are in isn’t ideal. They would have to
move somewhere anyway, so it makes sense to have the sheriff being able
to manage all the operations under one roof.”
With soft costs added, Potosek said the total project cost would be about $80 million, significantly less than the last estimate at $95 million.
It will be up to the county legislature to select the direction of the project. Chairman Luis Alvarez is a retired career member of the sheriff’s office and his input will be critical to the final decision.
