Presiding Commissioner Glenn Morris and Eastern Commissioner Bradley Jackson voted to terminate engineering services contracts with OWN (formerly Anderson Engineering) for two bridge design projects — Hawkins Bridge and Redbridge — after the county’s highway administrator said the firm missed deadlines and had not secured required permits.

Highway Administrator Ms. Beetles told the commission that OWN had been working on the Hawkins and Redbridge designs, which were funded by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars and contracted in 2022, “but it’s gone at a slower pace” and that permitting the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers required for Redbridge had not been obtained. She said the U.S. Forest Service told the county it lacked confidence that OWN could submit an approvable package and that the project bid dates had repeatedly slipped, threatening the county’s ability to use ARPA funds before the federal deadline of Dec. 31.

“The bid date that they had provided to the county was moving from September to October, then November, then December, which, of course, put us in a bind with the ARPA fund deadline of December 31,” Ms. Beetles said. She recommended terminating the two bridge-related contracts and transferring the paid work product — CAD files, plans, geotechnical and hydraulic studies and permit paperwork — to a new consultant so that work could proceed without starting from scratch.

Commissioners discussed that the county maintains other work orders under a master agreement with OWN and emphasized the decision was limited to the two bridge projects. Jackson and Morris said the county was not ending its overall relationship with the firm but needed to ensure these time-sensitive projects move forward. Morris noted his belief that a change in OWN’s ownership structure after it became an employee-owned company may have affected performance, but he framed the action as a business decision rather than a punitive one.

County staff identified Great River (described in the meeting as the consultant that handled the Greenbridge project) as the firm willing to take on the Hawkins and Redbridge work. Ms. Beetles said Great River had submitted draft work orders for both projects and that county staff would send OWN a seven-day termination notice and request immediate delivery of project files so the new consultant could begin work after the notice period.

The commission voted to terminate the engineering services contracts for the Hawkins and Redbridge projects “as recommended by our highway engineer.” The motion passed with all present voting in favor. Commissioners noted that approximately $215,000 had been billed for the Hawkins contract and roughly $2.24 million had been billed for Redbridge, with the highway administrator saying those deliverables are largely complete and paid up to date; the county will transfer that work product to the incoming consultant.

The county indicated the termination notice will allow a one-week window to receive files and complete contract transition tasks. County staff said they do not anticipate litigation, based on prior communications with OWN and the projects’ recent history, but offered no guarantees. The commission also thanked the county auditor for work clarifying ARPA compliance to preserve the funding.

Clarifying details and next steps include the seven-day notice requirement before contract termination becomes effective, staff delivery of all files to the highway administrator, review of the transferred CAD and survey files by the new consultant, and executing new work orders with Great River after the notice period.