Amador County – The Amador County Transportation Commission at its last meeting voted 5-0 to amend a contract for construction and design of its Sutter Hill Transit Center, with a rarity involved. Change orders that actually cost the commission less.

Commissioner, Supervisor Richard Forster said it was “refreshing to see change orders go the other way” because they usually go up. ACTC Executive Director Charles Field said the contingencies for the project have gone from $74,000 to $83,000 as Anova Nexus Architects has made suggestions to save money.

Commissioner and Supervisor Chairman John Plasse said the building was designed to have teleconference capabilities because it may be used for a community college. Field said ACTC dropped the teleconferencing capabilities two years ago because they thought they would have no demand. He said they only included audiovisual equipment in the bids that went out. Audiovisual infrastructure was then deleted from the bid to save $15,000. Field said “we have it all specked and we can bid it.”

Commissioner Michael Vasquez said he would personally rather see this completed. He said he had estimated costs to outfit the center with computers and furniture at $65,000 to $100,000. Field said it still must be put out for bids, and “people can beat these costs,” especially in the current economy.

Anova Nexus Architect Steve Haidet said: “I think this is one of the most successful projects that we have been involved with,” and they have “been able to bring forward value engineering suggestions.”

The Commission approved the contract amendment and discussed use of the building and needs, and agreed to install teleconferencing first, then determine the need for a “tele-presence” for classes.

Field said it was designed for other businesses to use, and the public, as a public teleconferencing facility. Forster said the Department of Corrections and other agencies would find that using the teleconference center would save them money by reducing travel costs on trips to conferences.

Field said “if we build this and they come,” they will need a tech to be there. He said it ideally would be set up to leave groups there with a key. Forster said Amador County Fair found their rental fees eaten up by electricity costs because renters left the lights on for 12 hours.

Field said there could be six or seven presets for building lighting, but probably still need a staff presence. The project is ahead of schedule and Commissioners will discuss the bidding specs to try to get bids out in December, then start testing things in February and using things in March.

Story by Jim Reece This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.