EPHRATA — Site preparation for the new Grant County Jail will begin by late February 2024, with the start of construction still to be determined. County officials opened bids for the site preparation phase of the project Tuesday.

Capstone Structures LLC, Quincy, was the apparent low bidder. The company bid $2.58 million as its base bid. Marc Seeberger of Lydig Construction, the project manager, said county officials must award the contract to what is called the lowest responsive bidder. 

“That means there are certain specific requirements they have to include with this (bid) envelope,” Seeberger said. “There were certain ways the bid form had to be filled out.” 

Project managers are required to do some checking before the bid can be awarded, Seeberger said, and there is a period during which a bid can be challenged. Once that time has passed the contract will be awarded; the winning company must start work by Feb. 26, 2024.

“Presumably you won’t see any activity until then,” Seeberger said. “It’s possible that we can start them early if some things fall into line with some of the regulatory stuff we’re trying to get through.

“We made it a Feb. 26 start date to make sure we had all our ducks in a row so that when we’re ready to go, they can start,” he said. 

Weather conditions also played a role in the start date. Seeberger said typically the ground is thawed out and snow is either partially or completely melted by the end of February.

The contractor will be responsible for removing what’s on the site now and getting it ready for the new jail to start going up.

“(The contractor) will demo out all the buildings off the site. And then they will do what’s called clearing and grubbing. So they’ll remove all the topsoil and current vegetation in the area of work, which is about 18 acres,” Seeberger said. 

The new jail will be located on the site of the old Ephrata Raceway. Tom Gaines, Grant County Central Services director, said the contractor will remove what’s left of the track along with the outbuildings and grandstands. 

The soil on the track and in the pits was contaminated with petroleum products, but Seeberger said the contaminated dirt has already been removed.

“Then we will do mass grading under this package, so they’ll be moving a lot of dirt around. That site will look different when they’re done – they’ll essentially flatten it out,” Seeberger said.

The work also will include reshaping some of the ground to accommodate water runoff.

“It’s getting the site so we can build on it,” said project superintendent Chad Uphaus.

A new road will be built to the jail site, an extension of Nat Washington Way. The contract also will include some preparation for that road, and preparation for some upgrades to Road 14 Northwest, which runs along one edge of the county’s property, Gaines said.

Because parts of the project are still being designed, construction start and end dates haven’t been determined yet. 

“That’s all still being negotiated,” Seeberger said. 

The cost of construction hasn’t been determined either.

“That all has to be negotiated,” he said.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached via email at [email protected].