Sunflower County is one step closer to getting some much needed bridge repairs done.
On Monday, the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve and accept a Memorandum of Agreement with the Mississippi Department of Transportation for over $3 million that is to be used to restore five of the county’s bridges.
MDOT awarded a total of $3,631,668.40 to the county; of that amount $620,172 is for Kemp Road, $692,464.45 for McCoy Lake Road, $837,017.15 for Tindall Road, $621,556.60 for Lusk Road and $860,458.20 for Blackwood Road. However, the money comes with a few stipulations.
According to Attorney Johnny McWilliams, the funds cannot be used interchangeably. They must be placed into five separate bank accounts and used specifically for the bridge project for which it was assessed. If the final cost to repair Bridge A is less than the allotted amount and the cost for Bridge B is more, the county cannot use leftover funds from A to finish B.
McWilliams said if the cost to repair goes over the bid amount the county is responsible for paying the remainder and if a bridge ends up costing less then the money that remains must be returned to the state.
County Engineer Ron Cassada added that all of the contingencies for what might happen on the job site were removed from the costs for these bridge projects. He asserted that as a rule in any construction project there are always contingencies. “You have certain things that happen during construction, field conditions are different, so we always have contingencies built in, additional money so that if it goes over it's within the budget,” he said.
That is another difference with regard to these funds. " In this case, once it’s bid that's the amount MDOT is going to give you, that's the amount they get to construct it,” said Cassada. He said the bid is actually the amount of items required to assemble the project. “So we’re going to try to put contingencies in there,” Cassada said.
Although, he declared that this type of the project makes it difficult to do. “That's hard to do on a bridge.” Cassada explained that if they initially based their design estimate on a certain length of pile, and later after driving a test pile determine that a longer length was needed that cost would not be covered. He said, “Unless that is accounted for in the bid, there is no contingencies, it would be cost to the county.”
Cassada said they are working with MDOT to try and insure that if contingencies arise they will be able to request more money as long as it is below the allotted amount for that particular bridge. “The bottom line is we’ve got to work within the restraints that are here,” he said.
The funds will be distributed from the state in two disbursements, one at the onset of the project and the other at the end. “They are going to send that second installment based on the bid job,” said Cassada. No definite start date was given for either project.
In other business,
After reviewing the choices available under state contract, the county lawmakers voted to re-advertise for bids on a vehicle for the county’s economic development director.
After hearing a proposal from a Greenville landscaping company regarding work at the new Life Help building and engaging in a related discussion, the county leaders decided to seek bids for one contractor to do landscaping work at county-owned buildings.
The lawmakers also re-approved for ChemPro to do chemical applications on 50 or more miles of county roadways to abate weed growth and reduce the cutting time.
The county decision makers also declined an offer from citizen Joe Kent to donate a United States flag to replace the tattered symbol that currently waves above the courthouse. President Glenn Donald asserted that there should be extra flags already in stock and the county would replace the torn flag.
