Board of Commissioners OKs infrastructure contracts, settlement with former 911 vendor

The Lorain County Board of Commissioners on Friday approved a nearly $28,000 settlement with a former Texas-based vendor at Lorain County 911 after missing a deadline to cancel an automatic renewal of the vendor's contract. The board voted 2-0 to pay Kaxxa Holdings $27,615 in order to walk away from a contract with the company, which was providing services to the county 911 system. Commissioners Michelle Hung and Jeff Riddell approved the settlement Friday, with Commissioner David Moore not present as he recovers from a medical procedure. Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, the board's legal counsel and a candidate for Common Pleas judge in the March primary, said the county wasn't happy with Kaxxa Holdings' services "and the administration and 911 decided to go in a different direction," he told the board prior to its vote. However, the contract the county had with Kaxxa had "a rather lengthy automatic renewal provision" of 90 days, and officials "did not make the decision to terminate the contract and move in a different direction until that 90-day window had opened," Petticord said. When the county told Kaxxa it was terminating the contract, Kaxxa demanded the county renew for the full term of the contract and sent the bill to collections, he said. The matter took a year to resolve, Petticord said. He said his office negotiated with the company for months, and succeeded in avoiding a lawsuit in Texas courts. County policy has changed so that contracts won't be automatically renewed — "not a good idea generally and when we can avoid doing it we do," Petticord said. "It took a while, so I assume we finally decided it's a good settlement," Riddell said. "Best we're gonna get." In other business Friday, the board: OK'd an agreement with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District worth $428,900 to replace failed septic systems on Forestview Drive in Columbia Township. A grant will pay half the cost of the project, or $214,450. The other half will be paid from tax increment financing, or TIF, payments by residential developers building housing there. awarded a contract worth $315,207 to RA Bores Excavating Inc. of Monroeville for the Grove Avenue waterline replacement project in Sheffield Township. RA Bores submitted the best of 11 bids that were opened Nov. 9. The work involves replacing a 6-inch waterline with 1,741 linear feet of 8-inch PVC pipe along with new hydrants and service connections, with the work to be completed by May 1. approved a contract with Civil and Environmental Consultants Inc. of Mayfield Heights worth $103,000 to prepare plans to replace the superstructure of the Griggs Road bridge in Rochester, in a project that is 100 percent funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation using money provided by the $1.2 trillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed by President Joe Biden in November 2021, county officials said. awarded a contract to D&M Earthmoving Ltd. of Wakeman worth $53,619 to repair a stormwater basin near the Lorain County Board of Elections on North Ridge Road in Sheffield Township. A pipe failed near the western inlet to the basin during severe storms on Aug. 23-24 storm, causing damage. entered a contract with Denes Concrete Inc. of Wellington for $50,800 worth of work on Firelands School District property in Henrietta Township, the best of three bids opened on Nov. 15. Lorain County, the Lorain Soil & Water Conservation District and Firelands schools are improving an outlet and detention basin there. approved an emergency contract with Fabrizi Trucking and Paving to do $9,255 worth of emergency waterline repairs at 41765 North Ridge Road in Elyria Township. County workers attempting to restore waterline service there found a blockage in a water main in the east bound lane of North Ridge Road. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.