Today we had an official “Kick Off” Meeting with the entire jail building and design team. After contracting with Lydig Construction from Spokane WA, this is the first time the entire team is meeting together to discuss what happens next. This is not a “golden shovel groundbreaking event”, but a meeting to lay the groundwork for who is communicating with who, what our expectations are of each other, budgets, logistics, goals, etc.
The team is comprised of County representatives, CRA Architects, CBRE, and Lydig Construction. At the meeting we brought Lydig up to speed on things that have transpired to this point. Lydig, as the GCCM will now schedule meetings, work with the County and the Architect, engage all subcontractors as we perform advanced schematic design, and will work out pricing for all the disciplines required to build a new jail and Sheriff’s administration center. The “heavy lifting” I have been doing is being transferred to Lydig’s shoulders (happily).
In the immediate future the current happenings behind the scenes are.
- Lydig will begin the process of finding contractors, and pricing for the “early site package” this includes the complete clean-up of the old racetrack and preparing the site for the new construction that will follow.
- Discuss, and help figure out some of the issues we have yet to deal with that they would be better equipped to handle.
- The County, and this team are working with the City of Ephrata, Lydig, and the WSDOT to help with the design and installation of a new Round-A-Bout at the highway intersection where Walmart is located. (There is no current timeline, this is the preparatory work)
- Working on other site improvements / ideas to mitigate traffic disruptions in the future when construction goes into full production.
- Advanced schematics, this is where we plan the details of electrical, mechanical, security, IT, control, and all other systems required for this type of facility.
This is a lot of work, although you’re not seeing progress on the ground, there is a ton of work happening in the background. The more we coordinate now and ensure our visions and values are aligned. The more successful we will be throughout.