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Highlands Today

Construction Contract Awarded For New Vets Building

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By JIM KONKOLY

Highlands Today

Published: November 26, 2008

SEBRING - Military veterans and county taxpayers received good news Tuesday morning as Highlands County commissioners awarded a construction contract for the new Veterans Services building.

The price for the structure came in at $287,850, which is more than $162,000 below the estimated cost of $450,000.

And, with construction expected to start in January, the building should be completed in time for an opening dedication ceremony on Memorial Day.

Jed Secory, county purchasing director, said good prices for the building were expected because of the economy and that turned out to be the case.
Coral Sands Construction, of North Port, won the contract by submitting the lowest price among 10 bidders.

The county's new local preference policy did not affect this contract. The second lowest bidder, Trinity Development Corp. of Sebring, submitted a price $24,512 above the lowest bid. That was outside of the local preference rules, which would have given the contract to Trinity if it was up to 4 percent over the lowest out-of-county bid.

At the urging of Barbara Stewart, chairman of the commissioners, all five county commissioners went on record as encouraging Coral Sands to hire local subcontractors for the project. But, county Engineer Ramon Gavarrete said a contractor cannot be required to hire local subcontractors.

The new 3,200-square-foot building will provide five times the space for Veterans Services, housed now in cramped quarters in the Highlands County Health Department and Human Services Building on George Boulevard.

"We will now have a quality place to provide quality services for those who have served and given us so much," said Joe Dionne, veterans services director.

"The county is really working hard," he added, "to give the veterans a quality place to discuss their problems and seek the benefits they deserve and support from the federal Veterans Affairs office."

The new building, which will go behind the health department facility on George Boulevard, will include a conference room. That will provide a meeting area for veterans organizations that don't have a permanent home and allow the veterans services office to host various programs, Dionne said.

Additional space is crucial to providing good services, Dionne said, as the number of veterans visiting the office has climbed from between 150 to 200 per month four years ago to about 800 a month now.

The new building will include storage space for donated medical equipment such as wheelchairs and walkers that can be given to veterans. Space is so limited now that many such donations can't be accepted, Dionne said.

The total cost of the new building, including parking, utilities and furnishings, is not yet known, but the construction contract guarantees that it will come in well below the budgeted amount of $800,000, Secory said. Funding for the project includes a $400,000 federal grant.

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