Athens Clarke County Commissioners Toss Out All Bids on Jail Expansion

The Athens Clarke County Commission voted not to award Augusta company McKnight Construction with the jail expansion project during Tuesday night's meeting. 

Representatives from the Orlando, Fla., company Hunt Construction stated before the decision that McKnight did not meet qualifications for the project and that errors might have been made during the decision process at a staff level. 

During discussion before the vote, District 1 Commissioner Doug Lowry asked the commission to consider this possibility and withhold the award until further investigation had been conducted. One solution had been proposed to the problem was a rebid, but Lowry expressed reservations about this option.

"The questions that the Hunt representative has raised here twice and has sent e-mails I'm sure you've all seen — I was hoping to find out how we arrived at this juncture," Lowry said. "And if we decide to rebid, how are we assured that the bidding process that led us here won't lead us to further problems?"

The commissioners agreed to start over with the bidding process. According to a story in Flagpole Magazine, Lowry urged his fellow commissioners to hire Hunt.

Commissioners also discussed change in management of the Morton Theatre, which has been updated from the original agreement drafted in the early 1990s. The agreement states that the Athens government will sign and agree on contracts rather than the Morton Theatre Commission.

This story was changed from the original version.