Updates on issues occurring at the records storage site were discussed at the weekly Wednesday meeting of the Highland County Board of Commissioners.

Doug Karnes, a partner at McCarty Associates, reported that issues have been reported with Modern Day Concrete and their digging to the depth of the concrete foundations, footings and finding the soil they’re hitting wasn’t capable of the strength it needed. Karnes said the situation right now is that Modern Day Concrete is currently working and didn’t pull off the job following a late-night phone call on Tuesday that Karnes said he received.

Karnes said that currently, Modern Day Concrete, a subcontractor for Alpha Construction, has calculated 50 cubic yards for $300 apiece that they’ve dug that they didn’t expect.

However, Karnes said the county has no reason to approve a payment from Modern Day Concrete so there’s no reason they should be going to him. He said they should go to Alpha Construction, who would then send a change order to the county.

Eventually, he said, both of them will push McCarty Associates for a yes or no on the digging issues, and that McCarty’s position is they had enough information. Karnes said the company could have asked McCarty questions about its research and findings.

“I just think this is a reach,” he said. “I really do.”

Dallas Puckett from McCarty Associates said that in his experience with different contractors, if there is an aspect of a bid packet, “you throw money” at the problem and not just exclude it entirely from their bid. However, he said that wasn’t what Alpha Construction did.

“That’s the biggest rub for us is that there was $0 allocated for a thing that’s clearly stated in our drawings that this must happen,” Puckett said. “You must dig down to rock… It should be said they’re highly incentivized to exclude it from the cost.”

Puckett said there could be an argument made with both companies about a change order to give payment down further than the footer depth detailed, which he said they could be potentially agreeable to.

Concerning another issue at the record storage building, Puckett said it is regarding the timeline of bad soil and adding calendar days. Cody Beucler, another McCarty Associates employee, said the issue started with the two-foot undercut, as when it was finished, they didn’t start bringing it back up with gravel. Because of that, he said, an ensuing spell of freezing weather caused a multiple-week delay.

Karnes said the money on paper, around $8,000, is what the company will have in the future, so he said there’s no reason to immediately approve this specific aspect of the change order.

Karnes said there might be other aspects of the project that McCarty Associates might consider changing and “might” reduce some of the costs, maybe offsetting the site situation.

He said one of those aspects is the cornice material use at the top of the building. Karnes said that is the material McCarty Associates used at the top of its new remodel and isn’t happy with it. He also said he doesn’t think the county would be happy with it.

In other news, multiple representatives from Environmental Engineering Services were in attendance to discuss the upcoming process for the Rocky Fork Lake area shut-offs. This discussion came after Unger Construction’s bid for thee shut-off valves for those with long-term delinquencies was approved at last week’s meeting.

Steve Cantor, president of Environmental Engineering Service, said that from the residence to the grinder pump, there’s a gravity line, then the grinder pump pumps into a small diameter lateral-out into the water vein. He said that’s why, when there are shared grinders, the company can’t just pull the pump and shut off service. He said it has to actually go into the gravity line from the structure before it gets to the tank.

Commissioner Dave Daniels said that it was his understanding that the county has the ability to go into the equipment and make repairs and changes. Canter agreed, saying that there’s a “use ordinance” that allows it.

Daniels said the process the county is moving forward with is that it will find the person they are having problems collecting user fees from, make verbal contact with them by having a representative visit them, sending them a certified letter to let them know the county will be doing work there, would be shutting them off and that there would also be costs associated with the work. He said they will let people know that the process can be avoided if they come to the county and get current with their monthly user fees.

Canter suggested the possibility of bringing on a second contractor alongside Unger Construction just in case the county gets “inundated” with places that need valves because “it’d be good to have two contractors.”

Commissioner Terry Britton said that the board met with two of the Fayette County commissioners at the forthcoming Honda Plant. He said Honda and LG gave them a presentation and a ride-along tour of the facility.

“It is a huge plant and there are a lot of things going on up there, and the end result is it’s gonna change the demographics of Highland County and all the surrounding counties when this thing gets built and gets into production because they’re looking at 2,200 employees,” Britton said.

The board of commissioners announced that two agents for the Highland County Humane Society were officially hired, those being Brianna Williamson and Richelle Fair. Daniels said they were recently sworn in by Highland County Juvenile and Probate Judge Kevin Greer.

Solid Waste District Director Erica Tucker was in attendance to discuss updates from the organization. She said Wednesday was the start for public comment for its new plan and would be in the administration building if anyone is interested in reading it. She said the only major change was a refocus on goal two instead of goal one, focusing more on business recycling. She said there wouldn’t be a fee increase. Tucker said 90 percent of the townships in its four-county region need to pass the plan for it to officially be approved.

Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.