During their weekly Legislative Session this morning, the Allen County Board of Commissioners took two major steps forward in the process to construct the new Allen County Jail.
News release from the Allen County Board of Commissioners:
Commissioners Authorize Jail Construction to Proceed
Allen County, Indiana (September 27, 2024) – During Legislative Session this morning, the Allen County Board of Commissioners took two major steps forward in the process to construct the new Allen County Jail.
After hearing a brief update delivered by Cody Michaud of Weigand Construction, the Project Executive for the project, the Commissioners established an initial Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) for Bid Phases #1 – #4 of just over $261M. The Bid Phases are not construction phases but rather it was a method of breaking down the dozens of bid packages that were received. Weigand was able to receive bids but couldn’t officially award them until after the successful tax court ruling. By utilizing Weigand as the Construction Manager as Constructor (CMc), the bid packages were able to be separated by job and by trade so that much of the work will be accomplished by local sub-contractors. The final set of packages in Bid Phase #5 will bid later this fall.
According to the Commissioners’ Chief of Staff, Chris Cloud, “Every trade imaginable is involved in this project. While there are some elements unique to a confinement facility, it is in most respects a typical, large construction project. The vast majority of this project will be designed, engineered and constructed by residents of Northeast Indiana. Given the size and scope of the project, I’d imagine everyone in our community will know someone who played a role in the design or construction.”
The second step the Commissioners accomplished during the meeting was to officially authorize Weigand Construction to proceed with the project by issuing a Limited Notice to Proceed. Weigand has been authorized to spend $25,000,000 of already appropriated funds to begin time-sensitive work while the bonding process is underway. That money, allocated for the jail project by County Council in November 2023, will be used to begin site work, order steel, and undertake preliminary coordination among the successful bidders. Weigand Construction projects site work to begin in earnest the week of October 14, 2024.
The bonding process will take around 8 weeks to complete with bond closing around Thanksgiving. After that step, the Limited Notice to Proceed will be replaced by a Full Notice to Proceed.
The Commissioners express their gratitude to Weigand as well as to the many bidders on the project for their patience in getting the project underway due to the 5-month timeline delay due to litigation.
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