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the contractors would be required to pay the prevailing wage in the region; however, the County's practice to go with "lowest responsible bidder" was not -the same thing. Chairman Macht explained that the Davis Bacon Act would require us to pay the prevailing wage scale of Cocoa, Florida, which had been negotiated by a union contract there, and which bore no relationship to economic conditions in Indian River County. Commissioner Eggert agreed with Commissioner Bird's "strings attached" comments and recalled the County had pulled out of Farmers Home by rebonding. Commissioner Bird reminded the Board that Mr. Clark's firm was retained to write the grant. He hoped that it had not been written so broadly just to give us the best ranking/best chance of acquiring the grant. He further hoped we were not "selling our soul to the devil" by agreeing to things that we had no idea of whether we were able to comply and running the risk of having to pay it back. Mr. Clark, in order to assure the Board, provided a lengthy, detailed explanation of his extensive experience with the program, the administration of the program, its practical operation, and the comprehensive services provided by his company. He pledged that, if, during its life, the CDBG program were challenged, his company would work with the County Attorney to make sure it was resolved appropriately; that was part of what they got paid to do. Administrator Chandler wanted to make sure it was clear that if the procurement policies were applicable to all of the County's contracts and purchasing in the future, there was no way it could be done. If it was confined to CDBG and related contracts, and although it would involve a lot of red tape, he felt we could live with it. He acknowledged there would be a Davis Bacon Act provision in any bid written for CDBG-related projects. Commissioner Bird asked about the $750,000 figure, and Administrator Chandler advised it was the maximum amount for which we could apply, based on our size and other factors. Commissioner Bird then asked how the $750,000 related to the program plan, and Administrator Chandler advised that an additional $160,000 would come from the petition paving program. Water hook up funding would come through the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program (approximately $200,000). Commissioner Bird hoped that when everything was completed we would find we had received full value for the dollars expended. 23 March 14, 1995 u/� pp p` UO04