Projects related to restoring two area bridges were the main topic of discussion at the morning’s Morgan County Commissioners meeting.
After looking over bid packets and hearing brief reports from Morgan County Highway Director Matt Coultas, the county commissioners voted to approve the bids on two bridge projects.
The first such project is in regards to repairing the Davis Road Township Bridge, with the lowest bid coming from Yamnitz & Associates. Coultas explains why the project is needed, and goes over how much it will cost the county.
“The Davis Road structure is in Road District 9, that bridge right now is currently closed due to some insufficient timber piling. We did open bids, the engineer estimate for that project was $286,420, and our low bid was $216,227. Those bids range from that $216,000 to $283,000 and we had four bidders for that project,” says Coultas.
The second bid to consider was for the repairs to the bridge on Township Road 83. Coultas says that Yamnitz & Associates was also the low bidder for this project.
“(Township Road 83) is also known as the Reservoir Road in Road District 3 here in Morgan County. The engineer’s estimate for that particular project was $238,841 and the low bid was $229,046. The upper end of the range for the four bidders was $298,821,” explains Coultas.
Towards the end of the meeting, County Chairwoman Ginny Fanning provided an update on the progress of the new animal shelter. Fanning says the county is hoping to have that completed by the end of the month.
Also on the agenda for this morning’s meeting was the approval of the salary for the highway engineer, though that item was tabled for a later date.