Jefferson County supervisors OK bridge project for 257th

FAIRFIELD - The Jefferson County Board of Supervisors approved a bridge project on 257th Street south of Fairfield during its meeting Monday.

The supervisors awarded the bridge replacement contract to Herberger Construction of Indianola for $409,000. Jefferson County Engineer Scott Cline said this project was bundled with a bridge in Wapello County for the purposes of a federal grant.

Cline said the county has bundled bridges with Van Buren and Lee counties to receive grants.

At a meeting last month, the supervisors approved a bridge project on 146th Boulevard east of Germanville Road. Cline said construction on these bridges will begin either next summer or the following spring, in 2022.

'It depends on how busy the contractors are,” he said.

Weed Control

Jefferson County Environmental Health Administrator Dan Miller submitted a letter to the board indicating he no longer wished to have the duties of county weed commissioner. He suggested the duties be passed to the county road department since some of those employees are already certified for commercial pesticide application.

Jefferson County Engineer Scott Cline said he did not think those duties were a good fit for secondary roads. For one, he would need to establish a separate fund in the department just for weed control.

Cline acknowledged that the road department does get involved in vegetation, such as when it sprays weeds that can't easily be mowed, or when it has to cut trees growing into the roadway.

'We do some control of weeds and vegetation in the right of way, but there are hundreds of miles of road and just a few of us,” Cline said. 'There are a lot more people who take care of vegetation already.”

Cline suggested the supervisors hire RUSS (Regional Utility Service Systems) to perform the duties of weed commission if Miller no longer wants to.