Besides delaying bonding, the lawsuit by the Freeborn County Committee for Fairness also gave the initial phase of the new courthouse construction a difficult start.

The board authorized to have another round of bids for three out of four initial construction stages because fewer bidders came forward than expected.

&uot;We didn’t anticipate anything like this when we prepared the bid,&uot; said construction manager Mark Liska of Adolfson & Peterson Construction. &uot;The people are afraid that we won’t be able to get funding.&uot;

The bids for the work to the south of the current law enforcement center submitted last month were low in number and high in price, according to Liska.

For the earthwork and site utilities, there were only two bidders. And, for the concrete, there were three. Liska recommended a re-bid due to the lack of bidders and competition in the bidding process.

Only the pre-cast concrete job was awarded, to Hanson Spancrete Midwest, Inc. at $2,117,353.

&uot;We need to let bidders know that this is a viable project, and there will be funding,&uot; Liska said. The re-bid will be mid-December, which would mean

construction would likely begin in the spring.