The Tazewell County Board hired P.J. Hoerr to be the construction manager for the $44 million Justice Center Annex, and the project manager for work planned at other county facilities because of the building of the annex.
How Peoria-based P.J. Hoerr will gather bids for the nearly $8.2 million in renovations and improvements planned through 2027 was a point of contention Wednesday at the board’s monthly meeting.
The board approved by a narrow 9-8 vote an amendment to a resolution that spells out the new responsibilities for P.J. Hoerr. The company now is required to follow the county's procurement practices and procedures, not its own process.
It isn’t known if the company will be willing to obtain bids through the county’s more time-consuming process. Using its own process, P.J. Hoerr was required to obtain at least three bids for a certain project.
P.J. Hoerr will receive 2.5% of each project cost for its work.
“Congratulations. We’ve just added more than a quarter-million dollars to the cost of the $40-50 million annex by having P.J. Hoerr do work we should be doing,” board member Max Schneider said after the amendment vote.
Board member Jon Hopkins, who made the motion for the amendment, disagreed, saying getting bids is part of the percentage P.J. Hoerr is earning per project.
“We have no right to tell P.J. Hoerr how to do business,” said board member Russ Crawford.
The resolution – with the amendment – was sent back to the board’s property committee for further discussion by a 15-2 vote.
If the low bid for a project is more than what was budgeted in the county’s capital improvement plan, the project and bid will be sent to the board’s property committee for approval, according to the resolution.
In other action Wednesday, the board approved the county’s 2026 fiscal year budget, which takes effect Dec. 1. The budget calls for an $8 million property tax levy for the county’s general fund.
Four or five board members voted “no” on each tax levy ordinance. Schneider was one of them.
“I’m voting ‘no’ because this budget raises taxes,” he said.
