SNOW HILL – County officials agreed to seek bids for a building project this week but only after expressing concerns about the process.
The Worcester County Commissioners on Tuesday approved plans to seek bids for a storage addition at the Worcester County Recreation Center with a request for proposals (RFP). They said in the future they’d like to see the design of projects like this one bid out as well.
“Before we start doing these types of projects we need to send out an RFP for the design work first and see what we come back with,” Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said.
Staff approached the commissioners Tuesday seeking approval to solicit bids for construction of a storage addition at the county’s recreation center.
Mitrecic said it was essentially a storage shed and asked why Becker Morgan Group had been hired to design the shed. He said he felt that before projects like this one were pursued the county should bid the design work. Mitrecic added that he wanted to see the addition built.
“I don’t think we need Becker Morgan to draw up a storage shed,” he said. “That’s just my opinion. I support the need for it. I support the building of it.”
Commissioner Caryn Abbott agreed and said this was an issue she’d brought up before.
“It does have to be done by RFP,” she said.
Chief Administrative Officer Weston Young said the proposed addition was sizable and would require the relocation of some utilities.
Mitrecic said the design firm should have been chosen by RFP.
Commissioner Eric Fiori acknowledged the complexity of the project but said he agreed with Mitrecic.
“I support Joe when he says we don’t need to hire a high-end firm to do something like this,” Fiori said.
Commissioner Diana Purnell questioned the purpose of the addition, which is to be paid for with $623,000 in Program Open Space funds.
Staff said the recreation center didn’t have enough storage now and had equipment spilling into the gym.
Commissioner Chip Bertino pointed out the design work for the addition had already been done but said he’d like to see the commissioners provided with more information in the future.
“The work’s already been done by Becker Morgan,” he said. “I didn’t see what we paid them. If we could ensure information like that is here for the commissioners that would be good.”
The commissioners then voted 6-0, with Commissioner Ted Elder absent, to move forward with seeking bids for construction of the addition.
