County O.K’s Road; Erosion Contracts

The Jasper County Commission Tuesday approved a contract with Reeves construction for $576,867 for Feldspar Road—some $21,000 more than they thought they were gong to have to pay.

Reeves had been chosen as the low bidder last October, but apparently no documents were ever executed. At the commission meeting on April 18, commissioners were assured the contract was signed at the original rate of $555,317. Then, they learned there was no contract.

The commissioners expressed dismay that staff members did not do a better job of researching the issue before it was brought before the commissioners at the previous meeting. They agreed to adopt a Newton County-like bid package that would prevent this from happening again.
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In addition, commissioners approved the low bidder, Planning & Development P.C. to prepare a Stand Alone—Erosion, Sedimentation & Pollution Control Plan at the recreation department.

Volunteers have cleared much land there, and apparently the proper erosion control measures were not put in place, so it must be done before work can continue out there. F.L. Bullard gave a bid of $3,500, but agreed to donate $1,500 to the recreation department, thereby only costing the county $2,000 for the work.

Commissioners were concerned that his donation did not mean the county had to allot an additional. $1,500 to the recreation department. However, his payment scheduled indicated that would not be necessary. The only other quote they sought was from Jordan Engineering, which came in at $4,200.

Formal bids were not sought, and the job was not advertised.
The only other item on the agenda Tuesday was deep patching for Jackson Lake Road and Harvey Lane Road. That item was removed from the agenda as commissioner Mary Patrick said she did not have enough information to make a decision. Commissioner Alan Cox said he would not consider any deep patching unless County Line Road was included. The commissioners will discuss that at their May meeting.