County ready for road work

By Brooks Taylor, Mt. Pleasant News

Construction projects dominated action at Tuesday?s Henry County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Supervisors approved the contract with Jones Contracting Corporation of West Point for the Winfield Avenue paving project and also a motion to apply for Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) funds to repair three rural railroad crossings.

The Winfield Avenue paving project is a joint county-city project with the county paying 60 percent of the cost. Work will begin this spring at Grand Avenue and progress eastward to the U.S. Highway 218 overpass.

Jones will be paid $1,497,777 for the work. One other bid was received ? $1,782,948.72 from Concrete Technologies, Inc. The engineer?s estimate for the work was $1,728,811.93.

?I am pretty happy with the numbers, they came in under the engineer?s estimate,? reflected Jake Hotchkiss, county engineer. ?We will use farm-to-market account funds for this and because it came in under the engineer?s estimate, we will have more funds for other projects.?

The $1.49-million cost for the project is the total cost, not just the county?s portion of the bill.

Last week, Hotchkiss said he had been approached by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad about reconstructing several railroad crossings in the county. The Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) has funds for such work. Under terms of the program, IDOT pays 60 percent of the cost while the county and railroad divide the remaining 40 percent equally.

Hotchkiss said funds had been exhausted for work during fiscal-year 2018, and the application would be for fiscal-year 2019 funds. The three rural railroad crossings on the docket for repair are on Marsh, Oasis and Nebraska avenues.

?It seems reasonable to apply for this program,? Hotchkiss stated. ?I would like not to have to pay for anything but with asphalt approaches (to the crossings), it would make it easier for us (during snow removal).?

The county?s cost share of the work on the three crossings would be approximately $48,000, the engineer said.

Dust control application dates also were set by the supervisors. The deadline for requests from companies representing individual property owners is April 20. Application may begin on May 1. Hotchkiss said the individual requesting dust control must contact the companies willing to do the work and the company then contacts the engineer?s office. A list of companies willing to do the work are on the county engineer?s website.

Road maintenance work last week included continuing the boom mower operation; hauling resurfacing rock to Tippacanoe Township; prepping materials to do bridge pile repair work for a bridge on the Jefferson-Henry County line (cost to be shared by the counties); and continuing crack filling on New London Road.

Moving to other agenda items, supervisors approved County Sheriff Rich McNamee?s $25,400 grant to the Governor?s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB). The grant would fund three body and car cameras, overtime pay for deputies, training and other materials.

Last year, the sheriff?s department received just under $20,000 through the grant.

McNamee said all but one of the county?s law enforcement vehicles have car cameras and all but three staff members have body cameras.

Supervisors will not meet in regular session Thursday, March 9, due to the spring Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) spring school. The board?s next meeting will be Tuesday, March 14, at 9 a.m., in the courthouse.