The Decatur County Commissioners met on Monday. The board approved the claims.
Mark Mohr gave an update. The bids for bridge 239 were closed. There was only one bid received for bridge 239 from Dave O’Mara Contractors for $439,467.50. This is higher than the estimate due to material prices rising rapidly. This will be under review until the next meeting. Bridge 231 has been closed due to damage. The bridge is 109 years old and had 2 of 4 beams completely fractured as will as concrete crumbling on the pier caps. There are lots of repairs needing to be done to safely reopen and there is the possibility of completely replacing the bridge. Anything they apply for through federal aid will take 5-6 years to process before starting the project. It was recommended the board have an engineers report and cost estimate submitted to them before a decision is made. This was approved. The covered bridge festival is coming up and they have been preparing. The board approved taking bids for a replacement tractor mower. There is an alleyway being blocked by a van in Clarksburg. There will be a letter sent to the owner for removal and if they do not comply then they will tow. Mayor Joshua Marsh was present to make sure the commissioners as well as Mark Mohr had the opportunity to be involved in the Park Road project. Mark Mohr and Chuck Emsweller will be involved in this.
Krista Duvall presented ordinance 2021-5, 2020-24, and the article 20 solar energy ordinance to the commissioners. These were approved.
Kenny Buening gave an update to the board. There have been 49 inspections, 16 new building permits, 1 complaint about several nuisance properties in Burney, and 1 red tag for someone building on top of septic and puncturing it. This red tag has been fixed and they will be building elsewhere.
Patty Jackson with SIRPC presented the USDA application. They are looking at different funding options for the owner occupied rehab program since the state cut all funding for this during Covid. They are wanting to pursue an affordable housing program which Decatur County would sponsor and the SIRPC would run. The due date for the application is July 18 and the award announcement will be on November 18. They are applying for $350,000 as they find it is more manageable than the more common $500,000.
Shari Brancamp requested permission to hold a craft fair market on the Southwest side of the courthouse lawn during the farmers market. While there is still room at the farmers market for vendors, their insurance would not cover craft items. This was approved.
The ordinance for Covid relief funding was approved. The resolution to establish a policy that board members may participate in meeting through other forms of communication (phone, zoom, etc.) was approved.
The YMCA requested to used the courthouse and grounds for June 26 for their bicycle rolling tour. This was approved.
Mark Mohr Opened the bids for the Community Crossings Grant. Each contractor has an individual bid for 6 projects. Paul H Rohe Company Incorporated: project 1 $832,893.59, project 2 $38,806.60, project 3 $55,229.97, project 4 $170,371.31, project 5 $67,600.81, and project 6 $31,222.96. Globe Asphalt: project 1 $830,469.06, project 2 $36,123.76, project 3 $50,496.59, project 4 $169,797.88, project 5 $65,237.44, and project 6 $30,743.85. Milestone Contractors: project 1 $1,018,119.44, project 2 $49,955.94, project 3 $64,264.77, project 4 $222,091.72, project 5 $87,661.02, and project 6 $43,356.32. Dave O’Mara Contractors: project 1 $754,058.87, project 2 $34,349.64, project 3 $47,371.43, project 4 $153,684.08, project 5 $60,755.56, and project 6 $27,997.38. The projects were awarded to Dave O’Mara Contractors.
The Johnson Controls agreement was discussed. The badging system has been down in the courthouse for the last couple of months and the data needs replaced. If they are not under contract, they commissioners plan to look at other options for badging systems.
They received an agreement from Strand and Associates for help with the jail demolition. This was approved.
The 2022 budgets for the commissioners, courthouse, cumulative cap, and Edit was discussed. Mark Koors would like the commissioners to attend a workshop to have a better understanding of how this works.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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