The Vance County Board of Commissioners have approved a pathway for county staff to proceed with a “design/build” process to make necessary repairs to the jail as it weighs further options for construction of a new detention center.
County Attorney Jonathan Care explained to commissioners at their Monday meeting why he recommends this “new” approach be used for the repairs and expressed the need to move quickly, based on a letter from the state citing, among other things, the poor physical condition of the jail.
Care spelled out options for the short-term repairs needed at the existing jail while pursuing design and construction options for a brand-new jail; the consensus at Monday’s meeting was to use the design/build process for the repairs. Care told commissioners staff could have everything in place by the next meeting, if not sooner, to put that plan in motion.
One of the main components of the design/build approach, he explained, has both the construction side and the design side collaborating on the project instead of hiring an architect to design and then a construction team to build.
“I think that is the absolute best way to move forward,” Care said, “and that is my recommendation to move forward with repairs to our current facility.”
The design/build approach begins with a request for qualification – an RFQ – instead of a request for proposals – an RFP, which often results in awarding projects to the company who submits the lowest bid.
He said the design/build process won’t be the cheapest way, but it should result in fewer change orders during construction and fewer issues that inevitably pop up.
With the repairs, however, “time is as much of a factor as cost is.”
A jail is not something that should be pieced out and parceled, Care said.
“We need to know, down the road, that we’re going to have a facility that isn’t such a unicorn that we’re reliant on one person” to come in and make needed repairs, he said, referencing the problem with broken doors at the jail.
“I can tell you, unfortunately, we’ve experienced some of that in our current facility with updating, remodeling and building…that isn’t working for us, and it’s costing us dearly now.”
