Board Member and Circuit Court Judge C.A. “Woody” Woodall III quoted James Russell Lowell, “The foolish and the dead alone never change their opinions.” He added, “It would be good for the project to enlist the services of a construction manager.”
Woodall served on the board in August when it voted unanimously not to hire a construction manager. Woodall replaced Judge Bill Cunningham who won election to the State Supreme Court. County Judge Executive Stan Humphries replaced his predecessor Berlin Moore, and Magistrate Jon Goodwin replaced Kevin Stroud. Local Attorney Geneva Parris represented the Kentucky Bar Association at her first meeting.
Two construction management companies responded to a bid solicitation for the position last summer. The board permitted these firms, BMAR Construction of Hopkinsville and Codell Construction of Winchester, Ky., to offer a second presentation.
President of Codell Construction, Jim Codell IV addressed the board on behalf of his company. “We offer the highest quality construction at the least possible cost with completion on time in a quality manner,” he said.
Codell touted his firm’s experience, especially with Administrative Office of the Courts judicial center projects. He said that by dividing bids among subcontractors and value engineering, that his firm saved $467,836 for Marshall County, after collecting a fee. Codell Construction saved $411,312 for another project in Knott County. “We have the most judicial center experience in the state, probably more than everyone else combined.”
“We have excellent relations with the AOC and our former clients,” said Codell. “We emphasize local participation during construction.”
To reduce costs, Codell said that his firm works to minimize change orders and has worked extensively with the CMW Architectural Firm. “If construction progress starts slipping even one day, we start to ask questions. We minimize change orders and even after construction starts, look for ways to save money.”
Dan McBride, BMAR’s Director of Construction represented the Hopkinsville company at the board meeting. “It is a myth or a misconception that BMAR is just an operations and maintenance company. We are owned by the Linc group that does 63 percent of its business in construction. We have projects in Qatar, Key West Florida, and locally at the Jenny Stewart Medical Center, Crittenden County Schools and the Lake Barkley Marina.”
For the rest of this story, read this week's Cadiz Record.
