In 2009-10, Vancouver’s Nutter Corporation did two contracts worth $19.5 million for large road projects in Clark County.
Now those jobs are finished.
President Jerry Nutter said he currently has a $473,300 contract to construct a storm drainage pond and he’s waiting to bid for a multimillion-dollar Interstate 5 interchange at 134th Street in Salmon Creek.
Top 20 public contracts
He’s also casting a wider net to try to land public contracts, going as far south as Sherwood, Ore. He’s feeling the recession not only in the dwindling number of public projects but in a more competitive bidding process for those jobs, as companies that once did private work are fighting for public work.
If the recession first hit private businesses, then public agencies, the ripple effect has now hit private businesses that depend on public contracts, said Scott Bailey, regional labor economist.
Nutter Corp. employs more than 200 people.
“We haven’t hit the low point for lack of public money. It will be coming,” Nutter said.
“We are trying to be fluid, that’s all we can do. Be fluid, and be ready to react,” he said. “When we get jobs we hire and when we run out of work we lay off.”
Clark County Administrator Bill Barron said in trying to deliver services in the most efficient and effective manner, the county routinely contracts with private companies to do specialized work that must be done by people the county can’t afford to employ or equipment the county doesn’t own.
The Columbian compiled the Top 20 local public contracts, based on 2009-10 budgets from the county, the cities, Clark Public Utilities and C-Tran. The newspaper did not include state projects, such as the Department of Transportation’s I-5 interchange at Ridgefield.
Dominating the list of $180 million in projects and services? The business of building roads, treating sewage, and helping criminal defendants, homeless people and the mentally ill.
Some contracts are ongoing while others reflect a one-time expense.
Bailey said when some people hear about government cuts they think it doesn’t negatively impact the private sector.
“That’s the whole discussion at the national level about whether we should go into debt more to boost the economy in the short term or try to balance the budget. There’s been quite a debate about that,” Bailey said. Government-provided infrastructure — roads, water, sewage and utilities — is vital for economic development, Bailey said.
Clark County Public Works, which has the largest share of the Top 20 contracts, paid private contractors approximately $22 million for road, park and stormwater projects in 2009.
The work supported an estimated 220 private-sector jobs. In 2008, the public works department paid private contractors more than $24 million, supporting an estimated 250 private-sector jobs.
In May, Pete Capell, director of public works, told commissioners that declining revenues are creating severe problems and that the inability to meet concurrency and safety standards could hamper the county’s capacity for growth. Traffic will get worse before it gets better, Capell said. One proposal was to use bonds to finance the work, but no decisions have been made.
This month, Clark County Commissioner Steve Stuart spoke up when a resident complained the county was contracting out work.
“Those are taxpayers in the community who are employing people,” Stuart said. “So I hate to get into an ‘us versus them.’”
