Commissioners reject road bids, plan to do work in house

County may take over own crack sealing work

McCOOK, Neb. — Deciding the window of time was past to perform crack sealing on county blacktopped roads, Red Willow County commissioners rejected two bids with the idea of putting the savings into more expensive and effecting chip-sealing efforts later this year.

And, instead of putting the crack-sealing work out to bid in the future, commissioners hope to save money by buying their own crack-sealing equipment and performing the work in a timely manner with county employees.

As expected, the board declared an emergency and began the process of removing Bridge c73(183) on Road 404 east of Lebanon and replacing it with three 12-foot diameter culverts.

Without repair or replacement, the bridge was expected to be condemned in November. The bridge is expected to see heavy use with the expansion of a nearby feedlot.

Commissioners added an item to the agenda, with County Surveyor Doug Terry discussing a problem with runoff in south McCook, which caused flooding in the basement of a nearby home.

Because the property is outside the city limits and beyond the county road right-of-way, and the runoff comes from city storm drains, there is no obvious solution to the problem. It was suggested the county get an opinion from the county attorney.

On the consent agenda, commissioners approved a new contract with Craig Bennett as the zoning administrator, for $650 a month, appointed Luke Bortner, Jessica Bortner, Patty Eisenach and Tyler Esch to the extension board with terms to expire Dec. 31, 2026, replacing Kay Oltmer, Robert Tigner, Staci Blomstedt and Tammy Solomon.

They also approved an oversize load permit for JB Hunt Transportation and a county roadway occupancy permit for MPPD.

Commissioners will next meet on April 8.