Road District Awards Paving Jobs
By Mark Evans
mevans@stegenherald.com
Special Road District A board members voted to award Sugar Bottom Road and Creek Road asphalting project contracts and voted to purchase a new spreader bed at the Oct. 13 meeting.
The board voted to award the paving/overlaying contract to Vern Bauman Contracting. Bauman bid $59.99 per ton for a total price of $21,236 for Sugar bottom Road, while Jokerst, Inc. bid $61.75 per ton for a total price of $21,921.
For Creek Road, Bauman bid $59.99 per ton, for a total price of $12,778, while Jokerst bid $60.75 per ton, for a total of $13,001.
A representative of Bauman Contracting said the firm would be ready to start “in a couple of weeks.”
The board also voted to order a new spreader bed on road foreman Paul Bauman’s suggestion.
“We can get rid of the spreader bed for the old tandem and get a stainless steel one that’s shorter, lengthwise and height-wise,: Bauman said.
He estimated the cost would probably be in the $17,000 to $20,000 price range.
The old bed can be sold.
Back in February, Bauman had also brought up the possibility of trading the district’s spreader bed in on a new one from Viking-Cives Midwest, Inc., in Morley, Missouri. Bauman said then that there is “no comparison” between the quality of Viking beds and other brands he has looked at. Presiding Commissioner Garry Nelson, who was at the January meeting, noted that the county only buys Viking beds now, due to their durability.
The board officially voted this time to go ahead and place an order for a stainless steel spreader bed from Viking-Cives.
BAUMAN REPORTS ON ROAD WORK
During his foreman’s report, Bauman said Sugar Bottom was ready for paving. He said he had replaced culvert pipes on it and Creek Road, to get them ready for the upcoming paving.
“We’ve been doing crack-filling,” he said, and doing their last round of mowing.
He said the 2008 single-axel truck has a bad rear seal that can be fixed in-house. He said his crew will probably go ahead and replace the brakes while it is in the shop.
“It takes a beating with all the salt,” Bauman said.
Chairman Paul Arnold asked if there was any need for a new tandem dump truck.
“We’re sitting pretty good on trucks right now,” Bauman said.
SALT STORAGE IS DISCUSSED
Bauman said the district has 50 tons stored at the distributor’s, plus another 100 tons in the district’s shed. Right now salt is available at $87.50 per ton, delivered.
Since prices will probably rise during the winter, Bauman asked if Arnold wanted to order additional salt.
It was agreed that another 100 tons should be ordered right away. Bauman noted that last year, the first winter storm hit on Veteran’s Day.