Next storm shelter steps crucial

The Pettis County Commission is on the right track with its approach to building storm shelters.

Eight emergency shelters will be built around the county under a federal grant program that will pay for 75 percent of the cost, with the county providing the balance.

The commission took bids on the first shelter, to be built at La Monte. Coil Construction, of Sedalia, submitted the low bid, $431,000, well in excess of the $300,900 engineer’s estimate.

So Presiding Commissioner Rusty Kahrs, Western District Commissioner Larry Wilson and Eastern District Commissioner Rod Lindemann took a closer look at the project and decided to take an entrepreneurial approach.

The plan is to hire a construction manager and a crew to build the shelters. This crew will also do other construction work, such as sidewalks at the courthouse.

Construction of the eight shelters, which are identical, is expected to take three years and cost about $2.9 million. The county expects to reap savings by not paying the so-called prevailing wage — a federal requirement that grossly inflates public works projects — and by managing its own workers.

Subcontractors will be hired for electrical, mechanical and structural steel work on the underground concrete shelters. A consulting engineering firm will inspect the work.

Critical to the success of this project will be the selection of a project manager. This requires someone with experience in the construction industry, who is well skilled in the building trades and who has the administrative experience to manage a project of this magnitude.

This is no place to dole out political patronage. The commission should formally establish the qualifications for the job, which will pay $50,000 to $60,000 per year, according to Kahrs; advertise it widely; consider all qualified candidates; and be as open as possible throughout the hiring process.

The commission needs the confidence of the public that this project will be executed efficiently and in the best interest of the taxpayers. Some doubt about that seems to exist, as indicated by an informal poll on The Democrat’s Web site. Despite anticipated savings approaching $1 million, 57 percent of the people responding to the poll say the county lacks the ability to do this project as planned.

(To vote in the poll, go to www.sedaliademocrat.com.)

This is a great opportunity for the County Commission to demonstrate to the taxpaying public that it has come up with a creative solution that will save public money at both the federal and local levels.