WINFIELD, W.Va. -- Putnam County commissioners on Tuesday approved a bid to demolish the old garage next to the county courthouse, even though one commissioner said they should wait.

A contract for $8,850 was awarded to D. Carter Inc., pending a review of the company by County Attorney Jennifer Scragg. Commissioner Gary Tillis was the lone dissenter.

Two other companies provided seemingly disproportionate bids for the demolition of the garage, which was formerly used as an emergency services building.

Wiseman Excavating bid $20,000 for the project, and Hinzman Construction in St. Albans bid $79,907. Upon hearing the Hinzman bid, Commissioner Joe Haynes chuckled and said, "I'd do it for that."

Tillis said the discrepancy in bidding might be because D. Carter Inc. didn't calculate state prevailing-wage rates into the cost of the demolition. Under state law, a worker from any given company hired to work a government construction project must be paid a fixed wage.

In Putnam County, the prevailing wage for a carpenter is fixed at $28.63 per hour.

Tillis said if the bid calculation was off because of the wage rate, the county would have to change the contract, which could turn into a headache.

"I don't want to get into a fight because [D. Carter Inc.] couldn't afford to do it," Tillis said, adding that he would prefer to wait a few weeks before making a decision on a bidder.

Haynes and Commissioner Steve Andes went ahead with the vote, stating that the county attorney would investigate to make sure the bidder understood everything about the contract.

Kathy Carter, co-owner of D. Carter Inc., told the Gazette on Tuesday afternoon that the company did calculate the prevailing wage into the bid. Carter said that when the company inspected the job site, the project did not figure to be very costly.

Also Tuesday, commissioners awarded $5,500 from a state grant to the Division of Criminal Justice and Community Services to buy a metal detector for the judicial building behind the courthouse.

Discussion on delinquent taxes was moved to the next meeting because Prosecuting Attorney Mark Sorsaia was out of town. Sorsaia volunteered last year to be the collecting arm for delinquent taxes.

Reach Zac Taylor at Zachary.Tay...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5189.