During its regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 4, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) unanimously approved its consent agenda, which included a $223,920 change order for work being done on the county landfill.
Earlier that day during the BoCC’s work session, Public Works Director Mike Torres described the change order to be a “pretty substantial amount.”
Torres explained that it was originally estimated that 92,000 cubic yards of waste would need to be relocated from the landfill’s phase 3 into phase 4a.
“One thing that wasn’t accounted for is what they considered a fluff factor,” Torres said, explaining that when trash is excavated and loaded into dump trucks to be relocated, “it actually gains in the cubic yards because it’s not compacted anymore.”
Torres mentioned that the contractor, Mountain Valley Services, provided the county with a load count of every truck load they’ve relocated from phase 3 to phase 4a, which totaled at roughly 126,240 cubic yards.
“So, the difference is about 74,640 cubic yards,” Torres said, noting it was billed at $3 per load.
“It will be an increase to the contract,” Torres added, explaining that “luckily” when the county went out to bid before starting the project, only two bids were received.
“And, so, Mountain Valley Services came in at $1,210,004.53,” he said, noting the competitor was CRV Construction, which came in at $2,662,810.
“[Mountain Valley Services] came in at a really good price and wanting to work with us,” Torres said, noting that he “kind of was anticipating from the start some kind of change order.”
Torres indicated that Mountain Valley Services “hadn’t really done a landfill before, so they weren’t sure what all was going to be happening, even though we did spell it out in the contract as best as possible.”
Torres went on to explain that the county received an engineer’s estimate from SEH for what the project should cost, which was $1,463,295.
With the change order the total contract amount increased from $1,210,004.53 up to $1,433,924.52.
“So, we are still well under the engineer’s estimate,” Torres said.
He explained that the county had a remaining balance of $354,022 in its capital outlay line appropriated for the project.
“So, regardless of all that, we do have the money to pay for the change order,” Torres said.
Commissioner Warren Brown expressed some frustration over the matter, stating, “It’s troubling to me that people that are in this business are that far off on their estimate.”
Brown noted that although the other bid was considerably more, “It almost seems to me that they saw the money left on the table and they’re gonna get some of that, and that’s troubling to me because I expect an accurate bid from a company that’s in this line of business.”
He added, “And, at this point, it seems to me that we’re kind of at their mercy and held hostage.”
Brown mentioned that the county should have very clear expectations when getting bids, unless there is some kind of unanticipated issue that cannot be reasonably expected.
“The bid’s the bid,” he said.
Brown noted that his comments were just a reminder, as “we seem to get a lot of change orders.”
Brown also offered appreciation for the work being done, but “the fluff seems like a fluff to me.”
Torres explained that there was no way to be certain about the amount of trash that would need to be relocated.
“We weren’t really positive of how much trash was gonna need to be relocated,” he said, noting that it “turned out to be a pretty substantial amount.”
Torres commented that landfills generally do not have to relocate that amount of trash.
“If it’s on our end, I think that’s one thing, for sure,” Brown said.
Torres noted that he is unsure what happened previously at the landfill in terms of the overburdening of phase 3, as that occurred before he started working with the county.
“But, it’s taken care of now and it looks great,” he said.
Commissioner John Ranson asked if Torres is “comfortable” with working with the selected contractor, noting the difference in the two bids the county received for the project.
Torres responded that the contractor “has been a great company to work with and been very helpful” and that they helped the county prepare for a state inspection and cleaned up the site to make it more presentable without an additional charge.
“I would highly consider them for any other projects we may have,” Torres said.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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