Supervisors Reject Bids to Construct County Jail : Facilities: The board votes to solicit new offers on the Todd Road project near Santa Paula. Union workers protest decision.

In a move that sparked heated criticism from local construction workers, Ventura County supervisors decided Tuesday to reject the bids of a Phoenix contractor and a Pasadena firm seeking to build the county’s Todd Road jail and solicit new bids for the project.

Citing problems with the bidding process and fears of a lawsuit, the supervisors voted 5 to 0 to turn down the proposals of Perini Building Co. of Pasadena and HuntCor Inc. of Phoenix to build the new jail near Santa Paula.

Since the deadline for bids closed on the project last month, supervisors have been inundated with calls and letters from local union members urging officials to award the jail contract to Perini.

Although HuntCor submitted the lowest overall bid of $33.2 million, Perini came in lowest on building scaled-down versions of the jail and sweetened the offer by promising to hire the most local workers.

But on Tuesday, the supervisors voted 5 to 0 to open the bidding to new contractors, going against the wishes of about 200 construction workers who had packed the board chambers.

Supervisor Maggie Kildee, who made the motion to rebid the project, said HuntCor had made mistakes on its proposal, including submitting cost figures that appeared to be incorrect.

In addition, she said that under state law government officials must award contracts based solely on the merits of a project and not on how many jobs that it would provide to local workers.

Kildee said that if supervisors decided to award the contract to Perini at the urging of local workers, it would expose the county to a lawsuit by HuntCor.

She said it was best just to start over, and pointed out that Perini, HuntCor and nine other bidders could resubmit proposals.

“I’m always concerned that we are going to find ourselves in a lawsuit that will keep us from getting that job done,” Kildee said. “If we can find a way to avoid that lawsuit, I would rather do that.”

The board action, however, prompted complaints from construction workers who attended the meeting.

As he left the meeting, Gary Hensley, a union carpenter, yelled at Kildee: “It’s easy to solve when you have a job, and you ain’t gonna have one!”

Later he said, “This is going to be devastating to our local economy if we don’t get this work. You could get a low bid from someone out of New Jersey who will bring in all New Jersey help. Then what have we got here?”

Bob Guillen, president of the Ventura County Building and Construction Trades Council, said the board’s action “was an easy way out.”

But Supervisor Vicky Howard said, “We fully understand the concerns . . . but the best opportunity for this county, I am convinced, both for price and job opportunity is to vote as we did.”

Kildee added that she is urging the contractors to “sharpen their pencils” to find ways to cut costs. And although the board cannot force the companies to hire local workers, Kildee encouraged the developers to find ways to employ area labor. The project is expected to create 500 jobs.

“We want to make sure we have the most cost-effective jail to be built and we use the most number of local people,” she said.

The county will accept bids for the jail through Sept. 10. The county must make a decision on the matter by Sept. 17 if it wants to ensure funding from the state for the project. Officials for Perini and HuntCor said they will consider generating another bid.

“We are disappointed,” said Robert S. Aylesworth Jr., vice president and contract manager for HuntCor. “If our bidding schedule permits, we would probably rebid.”

Officials for Merco Construction Engineers Inc. of Camarillo, the only Ventura County firm to bid on the original project, said they plan to resubmit a proposal.