Bidding for sewer work scheduled (03/26/07)

Bids for materials for the construction of a lift station at Blaine Pike and county road 150 South will be taken beginning this week, with bid opening set three weeks from today.

Jay County Engineer Dan Watson told Jay County Commissioners today that Commonwealth Engineers of Indianapolis has completed the specifications for the project and it is ready for bids.

Specifications for the materials bids will be available at his office at the Jay County Highway Garage on county road 200 East, Watson said.

Bid opening was set for April 16 at 9 a.m. in the Jay County Commissioners' room.

Construction of the lift station is part of a sewer extension project the county is undertaking to extend sewer service to Premier Ethanol LLC.

The ethanol producing facility southwest of Portland will construct the new sewer line to a site on the north side of the Salamonia River. A firm contracted by the county will construct the line from that point to the Portland Wastewater Treatment Plant, located east of Blaine Pike.

"We need to get these bids so whoever gets the contract can get the materials ordered," Watson said. Cost for the county's share of the completed sewer extension project has been estimated at $700,000.

Concerning that project, a common wage hearing was held in the commissioners' room today and it was agreed by that board to accept the common wage law in place for such recent projects locally as the Dunkirk water main relocation project and the renovation of the Jay County High School.

Meeting as the drainage board earlier in the day, commissioners Faron Parr, Gary Theurer, and Milo Miller heard Jay County Surveyor Brad Daniels say that he has looked a problem at the curve on Ind. 67 where it is joined by Ind. 26 west of Portland. Daniels said it appears a tile on the north side of the road is higher than that on the south side.

Surface water in that area flows north into the Wehrly Watershed, Daniels said.

"To fix it may be a reconstruction project," Miller said.

In another drainage concern, the board heard William Futrell, a resident of 8391 North 550 West, Bryant, say that he is experiencing flooding problems in an around his residence since an adjacent landowner tiled a field about 18 months ago.

"There's a lot more volume than before," Futrell told the board, which asked Daniels to look at the situation to see what the solution might be.

The board also rejected three quotes Daniels provided from equipment providers for the purchase of a new excavator for the surveyor's department.

Since the quotes exceeded $75,000, attorney Brad Burkett said bids must be sought and a bid bond must be submitted.

The purchase will be properly advertised and those bids will be opened April 23 at 9:15 a.m.

Daniels also told the board that Bryant Wesleyan Church officials submitted drainage plans for an addition they plan to construct on the east side of the church located on U.S. 27 near the south edge of Bryant.

Miller said, "We've had trouble with flooding in that area before," and he advised Daniels to contact adjacent landowners to advise them of planned project.[[In-content Ad]]Costs for dealing with February's snowstorm have been figured at about $80,000 locally, Ralph Frazee, director of the county's emergency management agency told Jay County Commissioners today.

Frazee said that Portland, Pennville, Dunkirk, the Jay School Corporation, and Jay County Hospital figured costs at $56,005 while the Jay County Highway Department alone had $23,204 in additional costs related to overtime pay and the use of equipment.

Frazee met with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials Friday and learned that the county is eligible to receive 75 percent reimbursement for those costs.

Salamonia and Bryant did not have enough expense to qualify for any of the federal monies, Frazee said.