[7/9/04]A contract was awarded Thursday to a Louisiana contractor to repair a sinkhole in Oak Ridge Road after Warren County supervisors declared the situation an emergency.

The county board first took up the matter Tuesday and started seeking quotes. The hole, located near the VerBeck Pavilion of the YMCA, continued to enlarge, threatening to take the entire road. As a result, the board decided to move up opening quotes and getting repairs started.

Barricades have been placed in the area, reducing traffic to one lane.

The board received five bids and ended up awarding the contract to Camo Construction Co. of Vidalia, La. The company bid $63,682.50 for the work.

Buford Construction Co. of Vicksburg actually submitted a bid that was much lower than Camo’s, but when County Engineers John McKee and Lynn Wolfe checked the bid, they found numerous errors in calculating the extensions from unit prices.

Because of the errors, Buford’s bid had to be deemed nonresponsive and the contract had to be awarded to the next lowest bidder that was responsive.

There was no indication of the cause of the sinkhole, but it may be related to record rains.

The repairs were expected to begin as soon as the county and Camo sign the contract.