Wednesday, August 15, 2012

McKinstry working for Blaine County, too

Seattle-based company awarded contracts totaling $542K


By TERRY SMITH
Express Staff Writer

McKinstry Essention, a Seattle-based company currently embroiled in a multi-million dollar lawsuit with the Blaine County School District, also has contracts with Blaine County for energy savings measures and retrofit work at various government facilities.

Blaine County has entered into four contracts, with a total value of $542,754, with McKinstry in the past year and a half. Funding is mainly through a $700,000 energy efficiency and conservation block grant awarded to Blaine County, Camas County and five area municipalities by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2010.

As grant administrator, Blaine County is overseeing work not only for its own buildings, but also for Camas County and the cities of Bellevue, Fairfield, Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley.

Two of the contracts are for technical energy audits conducted by McKinstry, while the other two are energy-savings performance contracts. The latter two, of lesser value but similar to the now-disputed contract between the school district and McKinstry, provide for engineering and construction management to be performed for energy-savings work and retrofits at various facilities.

The school district's energy-savings performance contract with McKinstry, with an original value of $15.1 million, went sour in late 2011 when McKinstry began claiming additional expenses and seeking additional funds. The school district has acknowledged that that it approved funding of $18.6 million through change orders. However, McKinstry, in a lawsuit filed in May, is claiming that it performed work worth at least $25.8 million and is still owed about $7 million.

Blaine County contracts

The Idaho Mountain Express obtained copies of all four McKinstry contracts with Blaine County through a formal Idaho Public Records Law request filed with the county on July 27.

The first contract, worth $26,999, was a technical energy audit approved in February 2011 with the signatures of Blaine County Commission Chairwoman Angenie McCleary and McKinstry Director of Finance Joseph Hagar. The audit involved assessment of various facilities owned by Blaine County's six grant partners.

The second contract, worth $23,500, was another technical energy audit exclusively for various Blaine County-owned buildings, including the recycling center in Ohio Gulch, the old county courthouse, the courthouse annex building and the judicial building. The contract, also signed by McCleary and Hagar, became effective in July 2011.

The third contract was an energy-savings performance contract with a "maximum allowable construction cost" of $282,237. It was approved in September 2011 with the signatures again of McCleary and Hagar. The contract provided for energy savings work at buildings including the Camas County sheriff's office and Fairfield fire station, Bellevue City Hall, the Camas County Courthouse and Sun Valley City Hall.

Char Nelson, Blaine County director of operations, said Tuesday that the first three contracts are now finished, while work on a fourth one is still under way.

The fourth contract is another energy-savings performance contract with a "maximum allowable construction cost" of $210,018. The contract was entered into in January. It was signed by Hagar and Blaine County Commissioner Tom Bowman. The contract provides for energy-savings work and retrofits at the Blaine County Annex Building and the county recycling center and for an engineering analysis of the old Blaine County Courthouse.

Nelson said she is not aware of any problems with the McKinstry work.

"Thus far, we've not had any difficulties," Nelson said. "They've been responsive to our questions on billings and we've not had any problems."

Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com




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