Commissioners Approve Million Dollar Change Order

Yesterday, Washington County Commissioners were surprised by a $1.1 million dollar change order on the P25 emergency radio system. Today, by a 2-1 vote, they approved spending the money. At issue is a change order from Motorola Solutions, Inc. saying the money is necessary to deliver, build and outfit three support buildings for antenna sites for the new radio system. Commissioner Nick Sherman says that $5 million was put aside in the original contract that allows commissioners to outsource some of the project to local contractors. This is a part of that provision. The money is not covered by that $5 million as the payment for the change order will be coming from the county’s general operating fund. Commissioner Larry Maggi voted against the measure. He is concerned that the cost of the project keeps escalating. He says that he does not recall the provision of the holdback of $5 million. His view is to use that $5 million for the change order and leave the taxpayer money alone. The original contract was for $24.4 million. The contract now, with this change order stands at $26,380,072.73.