Bridges will be replaced with culverts under new interlocal agreement

McCOOK, Neb. — During their weekly meeting Monday morning, Red Willow County commissioners signed an interlocal agreement with Frontier County detailing the two counties’ cooperation to remove two bridges and replace them with culverts, and ultimately get reimbursed 55 percent by the Nebraska Department of Transportation.

In January, Red Willow County was granted bridge match funding to replace a bridge with culverts over the Beaver Creek northwest of Danbury, and Frontier County was okayed for funds to replace a bridge with culverts over Mitchell Creek northeast of Stockville.

The bridge match program was created in the 2016 Transportation Innovation Act signed by Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts in April 2016. The program rewards counties for “being innovative” by coordinating projects with neighbors in the replacement/repair of bridges deemed “deficient” by the state, and by replacing bridges with culverts.

Red Willow County will bid and order culverts for both projects; each county will be responsible for its own labor and installation.

The Red Willow County project northwest of Danbury, across the Beaver Creek on County Road 705, will remove a concrete deck over a wooden structure with a broken stringer and install twin 8 1/2x40-foot corrugated metal pipes with headwalls. The estimated cost of materials is $40,000. Red Willow County road crews will provide the labor.

Commission chairman Earl McNutt said Monday morning that by the time bids go out, construction of the project will go into and be paid for in the 2018-19 fiscal year. McNutt said the county will provide a certificate of completion and photographs to the state, and be reimbursed for 55 percent of eligible bridge construction costs.

Also during Monday’s meeting:

* Commissioners and zoning administrator Kristi Korell reminded county residents that they must obtain permits BEFORE construction begins on structures governed by county zoning laws. Korell said she is writing a letter to contractors to remind them, too, of zoning permitting regulations. Contact Korell in the assessor’s office, (308) 345-4388, for questions regarding zoning and permits.

Korell told commissioners that the planning commission is recommending the approval of new language in the county’s zoning laws regarding solar farms. A public hearing on the changes is scheduled at 9:30 a.m., Monday, March 26.

* Sitting as a board of equalization, commissioners, Korell and deputy county attorney Phil Lyons discussed pending or potential litigation during a 10-minute closed session and took no action after coming out. Commissioners also approved tax roll corrections for county treasurer Sue Wesch following the sale of the Chief Motel and Double D Lawn & Landscaping. Wesch explained that the seller must pay 2018 taxes at the time of a sale, on property owned on January 1; the purchaser does not then get a 2018 tax statement because the taxes have been paid.

* Commissioners declared three monitors, two mouses, an answering machine and a security monitor system from the county treasurer’s office as surplus.