Codington County Approves $82,100 Stanley Consultants Contract for New Watertown Jail

Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - Codington County Commissioners on Tuesday approved an agreement authorizing Commission Chair Troy VanDusen to sign a contract for commissioning agent services for the new county jail, a key quality‑control step in ensuring the facility’s mechanical and electrical systems meet required performance standards.

Commissioner Lee Gabel led the discussion, noting that the commissioning agent role was included in the jail project budget.

“In the budget for the jail project, there’s $70,000 to hire a commissioning agent,” Gabel said. “That’s the person that does the QC and the tolerance and specification testing for mechanical and electrical systems in the building.”

Gabel emphasized that the complexity of the jail’s systems requires specialized expertise.

“A lot of that’s kind of complicated,” he said. “So we need experts to do it.”

Two Bids Received; Tegra Recommends Stanley Consultants

Project manager Tegra obtained two bids:

·         Cooper — $113,080

·         Stanley Consultants — $67,300 (base bid)

Gabel said Tegra recommended Stanley, but also advised selecting several alternates for additional testing.

“With the alternates, it would put it a little over the $70,000 that’s budgeted,” Gabel said. “But there’s plenty in the contingency — and the owner’s contingency specifically — to handle this.”

The alternates include enhanced testing of the generator and expanded electrical system verification.

The final recommended contract total is $82,100.

Commission Approves Agreement

Gabel moved to approve the agreement and authorize Chair VanDusen to sign.

“I make a motion to approve the chair sign that,” Gabel said.

Commissioner Tyler McElhany seconded.

With no further discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to approve the contract.