NATCHEZ — A calculation mistake could cost a construction company $30,000 for work it performed on area recreation fields without prior approval from the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission.

Camo Construction representatives came to Tuesday’s county supervisors’ meeting looking to be paid for additional work it did as a result of a mistake in the amount of dirt calculated for the job, but some supervisors are not inclined to pay the approximately $30,000 requested.

Camo Construction won the bid in August for the dirt work on the multipurpose field for approximately $80,000 and as of December, has been paid. However, the project had an overage of $30,000 related to a mistake in the bid quantity calculations, Jordan, Kaiser and Sessions Principal Hayden Kaiser III said.

Kaiser said his original estimate for the project was $115,000, and that was under what the county set aside for the multipurpose field, which was up to $200,000.

“If I had not made the mistake in quantity, the bid would have come in at $115,000,” Kaiser said.

The original bid of approximately $80,000 was not enough to complete the project, Kaiser said.

“It could not have been less because then the field would not drain properly,” Kaiser said.

Camo Construction owner Mike Grantham came to Tuesday’s meeting in anticipation of getting the payment issue resolved. He said his company did the job as planned, but the quantities of dirt increased after a final survey,

Grantham said at the meeting work was completed using the additional materials before a change order was approved by the Natchez-Adams County Recreation Commission.

Kaiser said he gave Camo the go ahead to complete the project with what should have been the original material quantities to make sure drainage on the site was correct.

Recreation Chair Tate Hobdy said the commission did approve the change order after receiving the invoice in late December, which was after the work was completed. Due to the holidays, Hobdy said the invoice was not sent to the county for approval until this week.

Hobdy said the contractors should be paid for their work on the fields, which look good.

“The contractor is out some money, and we want to make sure they are compensated,” Hobdy said. “And they did a really good job on the fields. I can’t wait to have some games on them — we are working on programs now.”

Lazarus said Camo Construction is not at fault and should be paid, but whether the correct procedures were followed or not could prevent payment.

“You have to be careful because this is taxpayer money — there are procedures to follow and it has to be done right,” Lazarus said. “According to our attorney (Scott Slover), this will not appear on our agenda until he is satisfied procedures were followed.”

District 4 Supervisor Ricky Gray said he expects the additional payment to Camo Construction to be discussed today at a meeting with the Natchez-Adams County School Board at the Natchez Convention Center, where the recreation commission will also be present.

Gray said he was inclined to vote no on paying Camo because the change order was approved after the work had been completed and not before, but that he would listen to legal advice.

“If our attorney tells us it is not legal for us to pay, then we will not do it,” he said.

District 3 Supervisor Angela Hutchins said the legality of paying Camo is also a concern for her. She said the change order should have been approved before the work was done.

“We just came from a (Mississippi Association of Supervisors) meeting, (and a topic was about) supervisors having to pay money back because something was not done right,” Hutchins said. “We are not going to make that mistake.”

Slover said he has asked for the recreation commission to send him the details about the change order and he would look at them. Slover said he has three criteria: if procedures were followed correctly, whether the expense was necessary and whether the expense was commercially reasonable.

“It is not to make a big deal out of all of it,” Slover said. “We don’t have all the answers to all the questions. When we get it, we should be able to straighten all this out.”