Board of Supervisors Watch

The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to:

• Close out the $40 million Gallo Center for the Arts project by releasing the final $2.2 million the county owes to Clark & Sullivan, the project's primary contractor. The county also agreed to pay the company $500,000 to resolve a lawsuit that Clark & Sullivan filed in an attempt to recover $8 million it claims to have lost on the project.

• Accept $18 million for the California Corrections Standards Authority to build a 60-bed juvenile detention center. The county will owe $6 million toward the $24 million project.

• Set an application fee for a forthcoming medical marijuana identification card program. The county must participate in the program to follow a state law ordering jurisdictions to comply with the Compassionate Use Act, which allows residents to use marijuana for medicinal purposes. The county's fee would be $118 on top of a state charge of $66.

• Award an additional $20,000 worth of work to Wood Rogers Engineering for its services designing improvements to the intersection of Ladd Road and McHenry Avenue. Its assignment has changed significantly since it was awarded a $34,980 contract to design the improvements in 2004 because of negotiations with the California Department of Transportation. The change brings the contract's total value to more than $210,000.

• Accept a report describing steps the county could take to encourage the use of treated wastewater to irrigate farmland. The board directed county employees to pursue the idea, arguing it would expand water sources and help cities pay to upgrade their wastewater treatment plants to meet the highest state standards.

• Adopt slight increases in building permit fees that would increase the county's revenue by $119,000 annually. The increases affect a mix of building permit fees, such as permits for new homes or for demolishing properties.

• Hire Stewart and Stewart of Denair and Iomlan Construction Services of Oakdale to provide on-call reviews of the county's major capital projects.