Delta County Board of Commissioners Awards Contracts for Corrections Project

By Rachel Leber

ESCANABA, Mich. — With the new year brings new resolutions, and for the Delta County Board of Commissioners, 2018 brings great promise for construction as well as completion of the much-discussed Delta County correctional facility project in Escanaba.

After deciding at an August meeting to choose Noblesville, Ind.-based Securitecture as the architect on the Delta County project, the Delta County Board of Commissioners approved a finalized version of the budget for the project in late December, as well as chose the final contractors for each part of the project.

Locally based Berger and King was awarded a $2.7 million contract for plumbing, HVAC/mechanical work and equipment. Master Electric based out of Gladwin, Mich., was awarded the $1.3 million contract for electrical work and equipment, and a $580,000 contract for building concrete was awarded to Roy Ness Contracting and Sales Inc., also based locally. Finally, all of the sitework, demolition, and site utilities will be completed by locally based DeGrand Construction with $475,000 in contracts being awarded to them.

In addition to all of the above contracts being awarded to mostly local companies, 22 of the 28 construction contracts for the correctional facility project are using local labor on this project. Only six of the 28 contracts went to other less-local companies in various parts of the Midwest, strictly due to the need for highly specialized work, according to an article from the Daily Press.

The new Delta County jail facility is being planned due to current overcrowding as well as projections of a growing population between now and 2036, according to the Delta County 2016 Executive Summary. The new facility will increase security, corrections officer safety and the capacity of Delta County’s Correctional Facility from 85 to 160, according to the Delta County Michigan government website.