County gears up for summer armor-coating projects

McCOOK, Neb. — At their regular weekly meeting Monday morning, Red Willow County commissioners finalized plans for 14 miles of armor-coating projects to be completed this summer.

Tyson Bardsley, the county's roads superintendent, estimates the per-mile cost at $15,333, compared to $14,772 per mile in 2018. The summer 2019 AC projects are expected to cost about $214,662, although commissioners have not yet set a date to accept bids.

Site 1 is 1.90 miles on the county road north of McCook's West Third Street.

Site 2 is 5.37 miles on the Harry Strunk Lake road from Highway 6&34 to the Frontier County line.

Site 3 is 1.20 miles on the county's portion of Ravenswood Road located east of Highway 83 and south of Valmont Industries.

Site 4 is 2.48 miles on County Road 716 from Highway 6&34 at C&K Distributors and Red Willow Animal Clinic north, and east to Highway 83 at Orscheln's and McCook Public Power.

Site 5 is 2.07 miles on County Road 384 from County Road 713 south starting at the former District 8 school house.

Site 6 is 1 mile on Drive 713 from Wilcoxes's drive to the City of McCook water treatment plant.

County road crews will grade road shoulders for drainage and perform all patching prior to the contractor's work. The county will buy aggregate (gravel) from Paulsen Inc. at Indianola and MC3000 oil from Asphalt & Fuel Supply Inc. of Tulsa, Okla. The contractor will provide application and equipment and labor for application.

Construction will be completed under traffic with the contractor providing flagging and signs.

Miller & Associates of McCook will provide engineering and designing for the projects as per an agreement approved and signed by commissioners Monday for $4,500; and additionally, personal observation of work at $55 an hour and 50 cents per mile.

Bardsley said he is ready to complete drawings and write specs for the projects, after which commissioners will advertise and set a date to accept bids.

The county courthouse will be closed Friday, April 26 for Arbor Day, and commissioners do not meet Monday, April 29 because they do not normally meet on the fifth Monday of any month. Their next regular meeting will be May 6.

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In other action:

— In open session, commissioners took no action after a 15-minute closed session to discuss potential litigation with county attorney Paul Wood.

— Commissioners declared as surplus 2013 computers and computer accessories from the county assessor's office, which has switched its computer system from Terra Scan to MIPS.

In February, county assessor Kristi Korell told commissioners she would like to purchase a new MIPS computer system (five computers and one laptop for field work, $8,115) from her computer budget and assessor's budget for 2018-19.