By Laura Johnston, The Plain Dealer

November 14, 2009, 3:51AM

Cuyahoga County commissioners approved more than $9 million in construction contracts Thursday for the Community Based Correctional Facility.

The five contracts were not listed on the agenda for the meeting.

They were the first contracts approved since commissioners added new language to construction bids, allowing the county to consider a company’s possible connections to the ongoing federal corruption probe. The language also spelled out how much extra the county would pay to include small businesses in contracts.

That allowed Oakland Plumbing, a Florida company, to win a $458,000 contract for the project, even though it will not parcel out any of the plumbing work to small businesses, said deputy county Administrator Lee Trotter.

That worried commissioners, who now want to review the wording.

At minimum, said Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones, companies should try to contact small businesses for their bids.

Said Commissioner Tim Hagan: “We have to dance gingerly as we move through this.”

In July, commissioners rejected a group of bids for the correctional facility because two of the lowest bidders — East-West Construction Co. and Doan Pyramid Electric– did not provide enough work for small businesses and were implicated in the ongoing federal investigation.

Those companies were not awarded bids this time around.

The 50,000-square-foot community correctional facility, to be built on Cleveland’s East Side, will treat and rehabilitate nonviolent, low-level felony offenders. The $10.8 million cost will be paid for almost entirely by the state.

The remaining contracts awarded Thursday were: