VENTURA : Irvine Firm Awarded Road Work Contract

Paving the way for the most expensive road-improvement project ever planned in Ventura, the City Council has picked an Orange County firm to manage the first stage of the $25-million extension of Olivas Park Drive.

The decision came on a 5-2 vote early Tuesday, with Councilmen Jack Tingstrom and Jim Monahan saying the $197,000 contract should have gone to a local company.

But Community Services Director Everett Millais, who recommended engineering giant Fluor Daniel of Irvine, said the two local bidders were not as qualified.

To improve traffic flow around the Ventura Auto Center, city planners want to extend Olivas Park Drive to Johnson Drive. The project also calls for building a levee along the north bank of the Santa Clara River and upgrading the south bank levee. Those factors contributed to the staff’s recommendation to go with the larger firm, Millais said.

Fluor Daniel, Millais said, also serves as project manager for the Caltrans plan to widen the junction of the Ventura Freeway and the Pacific Coast Highway.

But Mohammed A. Hasan, who owns one of the firms that lost out to Fluor Daniel, complained that he should have been given the contract, which Millais said would be extended after design work is completed next spring.

“This is your opportunity to do a solid thing to provide that the money is spent in Ventura,” he told the council.