County confident of dredge agreement

County Administrator David Hamilton expressed confidence Tuesday afternoon that the county and contractor on the Hernando Beach channel dredging project will soon come to terms and work will resume.

Hamilton described Thursday's three-hour meeting with Orion Dredging Services' representatives as amicable.

"We shook hands at the end and they said they would get back to us," Hamilton said.

Hamilton expected some word could come at any time as to when the project could resume.

Meanwhile, the county received some good news.

The deadline for someone to petition the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for an administrative hearing regarding the modified dredge permit has come and gone with no challenges filed.

County Commissioner Dave Russell said a challenge could have delayed the project even longer.
"That was a major hurdle," Russell said.

Russell said he is encouraged by Hamilton's "hard work on the project and trying to bring it together."

According to Orion, the modified permit expands the original scope of the dredge project and requires the company to build new sediment ponds. They cite the expanded work as the basis for a recently submitted $7.8 million change order, which effectively doubles the original cost of the project.

Orion has already been paid about $1.7 million of its $5 million contract.

If approved, this latest change order would bring the total cost of the project to almost $13 million.