Iowa County Supervisors hear report on jail kitchen, engineer’s office

John Bushong, with Bushong Design Group, attended the July 7 Iowa County Board of Supervisors with an update on the jail kitchen and Secondary Roads/Engineer's Office projects.

He discussed the budget for the project and said the total project has been reduced by approximately $7,000. The original plan included a septic system, and since it isn't needed in town, that is most of the savings. He also said there were a few cost increases, such as concrete and electric, but those costs were absorbed by the $7,000 overall reduction. The supervisors weren't able to approve these changes at this meeting because it wasn't specifically on the agenda. It will be done next week.

The jail kitchen has equipment going in and they are working on the final finishings. Bushong said they would probably be done by mid-August. The new engineer's office construction across the street, should start in the next couple of weeks.

PCC patching bids were the first item on the agenda for Nick Amelon, Iowa County Engineer. Midwest was the lowest this year at $120.84. All of the bids were apparently lower than last year.

Amelon reported there was a “fender bender” at the V66 road construction site with traffic control's pilot car and a person in line. Amelon told the board this wasn't the county's responsibility, however he wanted to let them know. The person behind the pilot car did not have a license. There were no reported injuries at the time.

Road crews will be working east of Conroy for around one or two miles. They will be making the road wider by bringing up the ditches. Amelon also checked out a level B road at Big Bend near Marengo. He told the board there was some gravel on it but there was grass in the middle and thought grading the road would make it worse. He also explained that if they fixed it, people would start driving down it to dump garbage.

There will be no meeting on July 28 because of RAGBRAI coming through Marengo.