Change order payment approved

County commissioners complete settlement with Ruhlin Company

The Lake County commissioners on March 23 approved the payment of $237,769.30 to complete a settlement with the Ruhlin Company.

The $200,000 portion of the total is entirely federal funds, Lake County Chief Design Engineer Alan Exley said. The remainder is 80 percent federal funds and 20 percent county funds.

Last December, a settlement between Lake County and the Ruhlin Co. was reached regarding the Vrooman Road bridge project.

The company signed a contract in early 2015 for the high-level bridge replacement and roadway improvement project over the Grand River in Leroy and Perry townships.

The project began in March 2015 but was halted just three months later as the county awaited the necessary environmental permits to proceed in an area involving wetlands and a scenic river.

After the project was put on hold in June 2015,

2015, the company sued the county in Lake County Common Pleas Court for breach of contract and negligence, alleging that the Engineer’s Office did not heed its warnings to apply for the permits at least

a year before work was to begin.

Lake County Engineer James R. Gills told The News-Herald last October his office now has all the mandatory permits for the project.

The project will now be managed through the Ohio Department of Transportation and will be bid out through the ODOT process.

“We knew as a part of that settlement to buy out of all this was going to be somwehere in the $250,000 range,” Commissioner Daniel P. Troy said.

Exley said this is the county’s final obligation to Ruhlin.

The change order approved by commissioners allows the project to move forward under ODOT.