San Luis Obispo

With no discussion, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to spend more than a half-million dollars to replace the fire alarm system in its County Government Center, which has been malfunctioning since the center opened in 2005.

There have been 60 false alarms at the center over seven years, 13 of them during business hours.

County officials have been negotiating to have them repaired but grew tired of waiting and decided to replace them, at a cost of $513,000, and get the money back through litigation with Kajima Construction.

The county also approved a $45,000 contract with Collings & Associates to evaluate the system and prepare bid documents.

Supervisors placed the fire alarm issue on their “consent agenda,” which is where they compile items they do not intend to discuss unless someone asks that they be discussed. Nobody asked.