Board of Commissioners - Special Meeting

Commissioner, special meeting to order on June 15th.

You're on mute.

Let me call the special meeting of the Dare County Board of Commissioners to order. I want to let you know that Chairman Woodard and Commissioner Bateman are out of town. However, they are on video with us so they can participate in the discussions. Commissioner Kreef, could you please start us off with an invocation?

Lord, Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, God. Thank you for everything that you provide for us here in Dare County, Lord. Please guide us and give us provision in everything we do and let us work with wisdom and work together. In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Let us stand for the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all.

And with that, County Manager, I'll turn the meeting over to you.

Good morning, everybody. Go Canes, right?

Go Canes. Unbelievable. Hopefully this is the only hurricane that hits North Carolina.

Exactly. So... we've talked a little bit with some of you all, we, we got the bids in, um, and we got the lowest bidder and in talking with the lowest bidder, um, we had some issues with, uh, the bid. We had some issues with the timing of.

We're just to confirm, we're discussing the construction and repair of the groin.

Correct. Yes. I'm sorry. Yeah. Um, we've got the groin bids in and after has some discussions with the, the contractor, I think, we've come to the conclusion, and I don't think that the contractor disagrees, that they're not the right company for the job, that they're not the responsible bidder. As them being a non-responsible bidder, we have the right to reject the bid, and if we reject the bid, then we can move to the second lowest bidder. Our choices were to either reject all bids and start all over again or reject this bidder and move to the second bid, since the contractor agrees with us, then we're going to reject his bid and move to the second bid, which will save us probably two weeks on the timing side, which is a good thing. So this morning what we're doing is we're asking you to I reject the lowest bid as a non-responsible bidder. And then, Gus, I'll let you come up. I don't remember the name, and I don't have the numbers, so you'll have to give them the numbers. But let them know what the new contract price is. I do know that at that price, it's something like $8 million, $8.6 million. We have the funding for that, so it's not a funding issue. If we had rejected all bids and rebid in our discussions with this bidder and looking through all the other bids, we would have been at or about that number anyway. So that's going to be what it would have been had we gone the other route. So we're in the same place. So with that, anything I need to add to that, Matt?

If it's the approval, just you could do any relevant budget amendments related. And then, Dustin, anything else you need to add to any of that?

Who's the party that's the second bid, Dustin?

So the second bidder is a company called SJ Animal Construction.

SJ Animal. And I mean, I don't, this may be absolutely obvious. We've confirmed, vetted, they're bona fides, they're legit, they can do this. Okay.

Hey, Bobby, can you hear me? Yes, sir. It's Bob. Before we move there, have you confirmed with the second bidder that they don't have the same issues that the first bidder did with respects to sea heights. moving, getting two-thirds of it done prior to December, and then getting the rest of it done until June, or are they going to be able to do the whole project by December?

So we have vetted them. Several things that are different. One is that they're a much bigger company. They've done projects on this scale, and their timeline is sooner than that. Now, what that means is they're going to start sooner. What that means is they get more done Whether that means they're going to finish, at what level they're going to be in is all going to be weather dependent. But we don't have the timing issues that were sort of baked into that other contract because this crew is going to start mobilizing right away and start working in August rather than start mobilizing and working in like October.

Have we worked out the details with them like we did with the number one bidder and the fact that they'll be able to get a percentage of that done? so that we can at least protect what's nourished in that area. And then if they have to come back and finish the rest of it later, have we worked out the same details with them as we did with the first bidder?

We've talked with them. We've got them on a schedule that starts the construction date at the time that we expected it to start. And absent weather concerns, we expect them to have the 450 feet that the bid requirements call for done by December. Again, that's all weather dependent.

Got it. Got it. I just wanted to make sure they were under the same situation as the first bidder was.

Yeah, we've talked to all the bidders, and we've talked just to be sure everybody had the capacity so we could make decisions.

This may have no real bearing, but do we know the methodology and construction plan? The first one, we talked about the boulders and the size and the 17 tons, 1,000 of them. I didn't know if this was a different method construction.

Well, likely we're using the same construction method, but they'll likely build a trestle and then you go take your equipment out on the trestle and drop the boulders and then As you come back, you take the trestle down. Coming back in, that's sort of the process.

I was really just thinking about the whole boulder thing because it sounded to me like an enormous project that would withstand a heck of a lot of ocean energy.

My understanding is from all the bidders is that they have sourced the boulders of that size and that they all have a source and that those boulders are available. Okay. They probably do. So with that, then we'll take this in steps. We need to declare that they're not a responsible bidder and reject the bid of what's the name of the company?

TD Urey Marine Construction.

TD Urey Marine Construction. That's the first step. So a motion and a vote to that effect, please.

Do I have a motion to reject the first bidder? So moved. Moved first by Mary Ellen Balance. Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Commissioner Burris. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes.

And then we need a motion to approve the next lowest bidder, which was?

S.J.

Hamill.

S.J. Hamill and authorize us to execute the documents to award that bid.

Yeah, so moved. I have a motion from Commissioner Ross. Do I have a second?

Second.

Second from Commissioner Bounce and Commissioner Kreef. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries.

And then we need to authorize me to execute any budget amendments or any other necessary documents to accomplish what we just approved.

Do I have a motion to approve the budget amendment? Motion. Motion by Commissioner Burris. Do I have a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries.

Then Matt has one other issue.

So this is a budget amendment. Earlier in June meeting, you approved a contract, which is a multi-year contract with Microsoft. If we execute that contract this week, Over the term of the contract, we'll save about $96,000, so it's in our interest to do that. What this budget amendment does is gives us a budget in this fiscal year to allow us to pre-audit and execute that contract.

Discretionary? Sorry? Will it come out of your discretionary side?

No, the money's there. It's just in the wrong fiscal year, so it's just a county thing to get it in the right fiscal year.

Okay.

All right. So you need a motion for approving a budget amendment? Yes, please. Yes. So moved. So moved by Commissioner Ross. Do I have a second?

Second.

Second by Burris. That's fine. And Ballinger. Burris is fine. Any further discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion carries.

One last thing, just to make a clear record in case anything comes up. The reason for the rejection of the bid was the bidder's inability to timely perform the contract. And so we had talked about that, and we glossed over that. But just to be sure we have it on the record, that's what we were doing. Good. Gotcha. Good.

Hey, Bobby, I have another item once we finish this that I'd like to discuss with the board.

Sure.

Yeah. You ready? Yeah, go ahead, Bob. Vice Chairman House, tell us what's going on with the bar. I've gotten phone calls that... I guess Corps permits the Miss Katie not having the bar open. It's not as deep as we want it. The boaters, we've had two boaters run aground. Tell us what's going on with the bar in Oregon Inlet, if you will.

Well, at the bar in Oregon Inlet, we proposed a dredge box, and the Army Corps came back. and actually change the dredge box and actually put a curve on the bar for it. And we're trying to work that situation out to get it back straight again through the Army Corps. And Ms. Katie has been out there doing some maintenance that she can, but it's kind of difficult for her to do that because right now we do have an approved bar, but it's not in the right location. So we're trying to work on that. And, Bob, I think you've got a little bit more on that, too.

Yeah, it's more complicated than that. Yeah. Evidently, the mariners are not aware and my phone's ringing off the hook about it.

Right.

So the Corps determines the dredge box in which you can put the channel. They do a big box like this and then you can put your channel anywhere you want in that box. And they've proposed a box and the the Oregon Inland Task Force would rather have the box in a different location and the Corps has said we're not moving the box and so it's incumbent now on either we accept the box that they've gotten and begin dredging or we continue to fight about whether we move the box or not. The Coast Guard has weighed in and are satisfied with the Corps' box and so the Coast Guard is okay with that box If the contractor will send in the survey with the box in it so they can download it into the computers, then he can dredge in the core box. So our choice is we dredge in the core box or we fight to move it, and however long it takes to move it, we can't dredge and can't get a permit until we resolve which box we're going to dredge in. So that's the... dilemma that is going on right now and so it's limited the dredging while they're fighting over where the box goes um i don't know where that's going to lead i don't know how much time that takes but i mean the corps has been pretty firm that this is where the box is going to be and they've been pretty firm that they're not moving it at least up to now yeah that's that's the feedback i've gotten that's where we are and then the coast guard has weighed in and said the proposed core dredge box is fine and they'll mark it that way once we dredge it.

This sounds like a short and easy discussion. I don't see how we're going to win that. Why don't we go to the dredge box we're being assigned?

Right. That's what we're looking at doing. Also, with the recent northeast winds we've had, it really piled sand up on the bars. That's what's made it worse throughout all this. But, yeah, we're planning on getting it done.

Steve, is the Corps or the task force trying to notify these mariners of this situation? Because we've already had two run aground and damaged props.

Yeah, the Coast Guard actually put down a notice for mariners, and that's already been put out.

Yeah. Yeah, and it's imperative for mariners going out there. From here, I mean, obviously with Kobe a season and all, single file boys. Fall in line behind somebody who knows where they're going. That's the best thing you can do, get right behind somebody who knows and single file through there like we did years and years ago before we ever got to Dredge.

Yeah, and like I said, with the wave action that's been out on the bar on the last two weeks, it's been kind of hard to do anything out there anyway.

Can they do – I know when we had the waterways meeting, Patrick from the Coast Guard said that he would put, I guess, emergency or temporary notification buoys that were lit. Can you ask the Coast Guard to put those out at least while they're – We can ask them, but they don't hold it at all.

And they don't – until we know where we're going to put the channel, they don't know where to put them. Yeah.

But I'm saying they're putting it at the end of Rollinson Channel where Cottrell dumped all that extra sand. They're just putting them around that just to bring awareness to it. Can they do the same thing while they're marking this other channel? So I would say can we reach out to the Coast Guard and see if they're willing to do something for that?

The problem is that bar moves. Yeah, usually with the wave action on a bar, the temporary buoys just don't hold. And they actually cause more confusion than not. True. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing that up.

Yes, thank you. Thank you, Steve. I appreciate it. After the call, Bobby, give me a call, if you will. Sure.

All right. Any further? Commissioner Bateman, got any comments?

No, just things to me like Rob hit the nail on the head. Just get together and do it.

Yeah.

As quickly as possible.

Oh, yeah. All right. Thank you.

Thanks for letting me share.

All right. Any further comments? Any further business?

Motion to adjourn.

Got a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? Second. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. All opposed? We are adjourned.