In late 2019, it was announced that the Southeast Utah Health Department (SEUHD) would be relocating to the former 7th District Court building.
During the SEUHD board meeting, which took place virtually on Tuesday evening, a discussion began for the ratification of contractor selection for the Price building remodel. SEUHD’s Bradon Bradford was joined by Carbon County Commissioner Larry Jensen to provide information on this subject.
The bids were recently opened and the total project cost was projected to be about $3.3 million, with roughly $300,000 of that in engineering services. It was stated that of the initial projected amount, $1.43 million of it is a Community Impact Board loan, $1.43 million is a grant and $460,000 is a WIC (Women, Infants and Children) grant.
Commissioner Jensen stated that the county previously accepted Jones & DeMille Engineering as the project supervisors and authorized them to move forward with the contract. Three bids were received, including one from Warner Construction for $2,524,970, one from City Creek Construction for $2,733,750 and the last from BODEC for $2,894,780.
The contract was awarded to Warner Construction and has been signed. The next step is coming up on April 6 when the bond closing occurs and they can begin construction. A building permit should be obtained within a number of days, as Commissioner Jensen remarked that he already spoke with the building department.
“We’re extremely excited about the prospect of moving into a larger building that will better meet our needs and the needs of our clients,” stated Bradford. “We’re grateful that we’ve been able to work with Carbon County to conserve some resources and make good use of existing buildings.”
Commissioner Jensen went on to say that there are some opportunities with the grant money as the Warner Construction bid did not reach the full amount funded. He said they will work to get the most out of the grant money as possible. Emery County Commissioner Kent Wilson then thanked Commissioner Jensen and Bradford for their hard work before making a motion to approve the ratification of contractor selection.
“Because of our obligation toward the health department, we could see they were running out of office space for all the programs the state was mandating they provide. The need for a new building became evident several years ago,” Commissioner Jensen stated.
With this need in mind, the commissioners made the decision to offer the former 7th District Court Building as a trade for their building. The county intends to lease the building, setting the rate at the same as the loan payment to ensure that the county does not have additional costs. “We are happy that we had the building to offer as a new option for them,” Commissioner Jensen said.
“I believe that the newly-remodeled health department will put us in a position to meet public health needs for the next 50 years,” shared Bradford.