CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Commission decided to keep prevailing wage rates for county construction projects at its meeting Tuesday night.
In March, Legislature passed a law eliminating prevailing wage rates for public construction projects of less than $500,000, but Commissioner said that would seldom affect the county’s projects.
“We rarely have a job that we would bid out that would be less than that number,” Hardy said. “Most of the jobs that we’ve done here have been multi-million dollar projects.”
Hardy also said that they’ve been satisfied with the projects that have been done, so he sees no reason to change policy.
“We’ve had excellent results here with the jobs that we have bid,” he said. “We did a complete a renovation of the judicial building, a complete renovation of the public safety Carper Building, and a renovation of this main courthouse.”
Hardy said prevailing wage is one of 18 considerations the commission uses when awarding contracts. Commission President Kent Carper told the Gazette earlier this week that he didn’t feel the commission had to adhere to Legislature, and should set its own policies.