Kimball County Roads Plan OK'd

The One-and-Six Year Road Improvement Program was the subject of the public hearing on March 1 during the bimonthly Kimball County Commissioners meeting. No public comments were heard. The road improvement plan was approved and adopted for the 2022-23.

Six improvements are included on the one-year plan. Chip seal is on the one-year agenda, as well as a couple of culverts and a few roads will be widened and elevated. Most of the work will be done in the Bushnell area. Randy Bymer, county road superintendent, explained that hydraulic studies must be done to determine what size culverts are needed.

Three improvements are on the six-year plan. Bymer said he hasn't added anything.

In routine action, the commissioners approved $150,000 to be transferred from the General Fund to the Road Fund.

Reporting on the roads department, Bymer explained that with the cold weather and snow last week the crew was in the shop doing minor repairs. Bymer gave the commissioners a list of prioritized needs and wants for the three shops.

The county received and opened the two bids for the chip seal project encompassing 6.1 miles of county roads. The bids were configured in two different ways, one by the mile and the other by the square yard. The width of the 6.1 miles of county road varies, thus the need to calculate different ways.

Top Coat Inc.’s bid for the chip seal was $19, 849.42 per mile totaling $121,80.46 on a 22-foot road for the 6.1 miles. Figgins Construction bid for the same chip seal job was $1.52 per square yard, or $19,618 per mile. After a lengthy discussion and repeated calculations, Figgins Construction received the bid. The chip seal job is scheduled for the beginning of July.

The commissioners heard a request by Deb Diemoz, District Court clerk, for authorization to hire a family member on a temporary part-time basis for the District Court Office. The request was approved. Because the position is temporary, it doesn't need to be advertised.

Harry Gillway and Alica Downey asked the commissioners to approve the agreement between Geo-Comm Inc. and Kimball County to provide mapping for the 911 system. The saving for purchasing the system will be about $1,000 a year for five years, yet they are locked into the GWorks contract until December.

The next meeting for the commissioners is Tuesday, March 15.