INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Board of County Commissioners Tuesday agreed to close out its contract with Ranger Construction for the years-long beach replenishment project that has topped out at more than $14 million. The commission decided to approve Ranger’s final payment, which includes $60,000 that remains in dispute between a sub-contractor and a sub-sub-contractor under Ranger stemming from the commission’s approved fuel surcharge adjustment from early last year.
Four of the five commissioners approved releasing the final payment to Ranger of $495,746, including the disputed $60,000, noting that they had no choice in the matter.
Commissioner Joe Flescher disagreed.
“I’m going to stand on the very virtues of principles,” Flescher said, adding, “I can’t support this.”
Flescher took issue with the idea that the commission had approved the fuel surcharge adjustment last year to ensure that those who burn the fuel would get the funds.
Henry Fischer and Sons, a sub-sub-contractor under Ranch Road Lake LLC, contends that it never got the $60,000 owed to it from the fuel surcharge adjustment. Ranch Road Lake’s representative maintains that it paid Henry Fischer and Sons more than the equivalent of the county’s fuel surcharge.
Both companies are suing each other over disputes regarding pay and performance.
“It didn’t go where it needed to go,” Flescher said of the fuel surcharge adjustment, which the county paid to Ranger and Ranger had promised would be passed on to the sub-contractors.
County Attorney Alan Polackwich disagreed, explaining that Ranger had a contract with both Ranch Road Lake and Henry Fischer and Sons – for mining sand at their respective mines.
Henry Fischer and Sons received the fuel surcharge adjustment under Ranger, according to the county.
The company later became a sub-sub-contractor under Ranch Road Lake to pull sand from that mine, which it maintains qualified it for the fuel surcharge there, as well.
Polackwich told the Board of County Commissioners that the county cannot pay the disputed $60,000 directly to Henry Fischer and Sons because the county does not have a contract with the company.
The only one the county can pay is Ranger – and withholding the $60,000 from Ranger would do nothing to resolve the dispute between Henry Fischer and Sons and Ranch Road Lake.
“I’m not sure it accomplishes anything,” Polackwich said of denying the rest of the payment to Ranger. He added that doing so could lead Ranger to sue the county and further drag the county into what amounts to a private dispute between Henry Fischer and Sons and Ranch Road Lake.
Polackwich recommended the commission “release the money and just be done with this.”
“We’re kind of making the best of a bad situation,” he added.
Commissioner Peter O’Bryan at one point scolded all three companies for the squabbling over $60,000 and asked the companies if they could pony up $20,000 each to resolve the matter. Only Henry Fischer and Sons’ representative indicated they would be willing to do so.
“I’ve already paid this money,” said Ranger Construction’s Bob Schafer.
O’Bryan said that if the companies couldn’t come up with some positive resolution, he’d be unwilling to support hiring the firms for future beach work.
“It pains me we’re at this point,” he said, of the fight between the companies, especially because the beach restoration project was a “grand slam success” based on the quality of the sand and the turtle nesting response.
“I wish there were a solution,” Commission Chair Gary Wheeler said, agreeing with O’Bryan that he wouldn’t be willing to hire the three firms jointly on future sand projects if he remained on the commission.
Wheeler is not seeking re-election to the commission.
“Certainly, (there are) a lot of lessons to be learned here,” O’Bryan said.
