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Avery County Commissioners Award Construction Contract for New Agricultural Building

By Tim Gardner

The Garanco, Inc. General Contractor firm was awarded the construction contract for Avery County’s new co-operative agricultural extension service building during a special called meeting of the county commissioners Nov. 13.

All Avery commissioners-Chairperson Martha Hicks; Vice-Chairman Blake Vance; Wood Hall (Woody) Young, Jr.; Tim Phillips; and Faye Lacey were present. County Manger Phillip Barrier and county attorney Michaelle Poore also were present. Assistant County Manager and Clerk to the Commissioners Cindy Turbyfill was absent. Filling in as the commissioners clerk was Dawn Carpenter, administrative assistant to Barrier.

Vance made the motion to award the contract to Garanco, Inc. and Young seconded the motion. Hicks Phillips and Lacey also voted in favor to make the motion carry unanimously.    

The Garanco, Inc. General Contractor firm is located in Pilot Mountain, NC, and submitted the lowest bid of $1,399,900.00 on the project.

Garanco, Inc. is a subsidy of Boomerang Designs, Inc. of Charlotte, NC, the architectural firm for the project,

The commissioners had delayed awarding a construction contract for the new agricultural building at their regular monthly meeting November 6 when concerns were expressed about what company would be performing the electrical sub-contracting. That sub-contractor was changed to Avery County Electric of Newland, which will perform the building’s electrical services during the construction process.

During that first commissioners meeting, Poore said a change in a sub-contractor might alter the bid of the project, but under the contract terms, the bid will remain the same.

The Garanco, Inc. bid provides allowances of $10,200.00 for: Unsatisfactory Soil Excavation and Replacement Mass ($800.00); Unsatisfactory Soil Excavation and Replacement Trench ($1,100.00); Rock Excavation and Replacement Mass ($2,750.00); and Rock Excavation and Replacement Mass ($5,550.00).

Another provision of the Garanco, Inc. bid is that the project is to be completed within 225 calendar days with liquidated damages in the amount of $1,000.00 per day if it is not completed by then.