ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701270033
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
A state review board has OK'd a procedure for submitting the New River Valley Regional Jail construction project to it for its approval.
If the approval for using construction management comes next month, as anticipated, the project will not be delayed long enough to drive up its costs significantly.
The Regional Jail Authority passed a resolution at a special meeting Friday outlining the steps required by the state's Design-Build/Construction Management Review Board leading to the hiring of a construction manager. Such a manager works with subcontractors in the design phase of a project, so a guaranteed maximum cost can be set while working drawings are being completed.
The 1996 legislature created the Review Board, which earlier turned down the regional jail project because it did not conform with state procedures. In fact, the state had no procedures established by its new board, so the project had nothing with which to conform.
In a way, the New River Valley project is writing those procedures for the new state board because, once they are accepted and established, they will be the procedures by which future construction management projects are judged by the state.
The jail, to be built in the Dublin Industrial Park, will serve Radford and the counties of Pulaski, Giles, Grayson, Bland, Wythe, Carroll and Floyd. Membership agreements for the last three to join are pending.
Tazewell County also asked to join, too late for the project to qualify for 50 percent state construction money. Now it wants an agreement to pay to have its prisoners housed at the jail.
The state will also participate in salaries for jail officials up to six months before the jail becomes operational, in about a year from now. The authority decided Friday to advertise for jail superintendent applicants sometime this summer, which would mean the localities would have to pay that salary for about six months.
Pulaski County Sheriff Frank Conner, Assistant Pulaski County Administrator Peter Huber, Carroll representative David Grove, Bland representative Wade Blankenship and Pulaski alternate Frank Conner were named to a personnel committee to draw up job qualifications and handle other personnel matters.
LENGTH: Short : 48 linesby CNB