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County buys grader; jail addition stalls
McCOOK, Neb. — Red Willow County Commissioners went ahead with one large purchase sooner than Chairman Earl McNutt would have preferred, but seem less inclined to go ahead with a much larger expenditure.
The board also gave Judge Patrick Heng the go-ahead to proceed with his proposal to establish a court bailiff for his 11th Judicial District.
Heng, who was appointed to the position after Judge David Urban retired, said the district was one of only a few that did not employ a bailiff. Based on court filings, he proposed that Red Willow County pay 38% of the cost of the position, Furnas 17%, Chase 13%, Hitchcock and Frontier 10% each, Dundy 8% and Hayes 4%
The person would be an employee of Red Willow County, he proposed, with details like retirement to be worked out. The judge estimated the position at 35 hours a week at $17 an hour.
Board Chairman Earl McNutt noted that the county only has a few months of the budget year remaining, so the item could be in place by next year’s budget.
The purchase of a motor grader was again on the agenda, with the board accepting a bid of $296,108 from Murphy Tractor for a John Deere 770G, with credit for trading in a 2008 770D of 44,500, for a final cost of $251,608.
The bid was less than $4,000 more than a 140 Caterpillar from NMC for $300,570, with $45,000 trade for a total of $255,570.
“You guys sharpened your pencils,” Commissioner Randy Dean told representatives of both bidders, noting how close the bids were.
By accepting the Murphy Tractor bid, the county was able to take advantage of a state bid for the same equipment. Even so, because of supply chain issues, the 2022 model maintainer might not be delivered much before 2023.
Because of questions about warranties, commissioners tabled a bid from Ravenswood Electric LLC for a generator and transfer switch for the Ag Complex at the Red Willow County Fairgrounds. Only one bid was submitted, $74,085.06 for a 60 kw Cummins natural-gas-powered generator and transfer switch.
The need for a generator arose after a power failure last year endangered a supply of COVID-19 vaccines in special refrigerators at the Red Willow County Health Department. Vaccines stored at the health department could be worth $42,000 to $77,000, officials said. The purchase was tabled for lack of extended warranty information, but Adam Johnson of Ravenswood Electric returned later in the meeting indicating that Cummins would offer a five-year guarantee for $2,215 and 10 years on the transfer switch for $925, the county’s preferred options.
The issue will come up for final consideration at next week’s meeting, but the equipment probably won’t be delivered for the better part of a year.
After discussion with County Highway Superintendent Scott Clifford and Zoning Chairman Craig Bennett, commissioners agreed to proceed with the abandonment of a county road, unused since the mid-1940s, in southeast Red Willow County, which will allow a neighboring landowner to proceed with the construction of a building without encroaching on a right-of-way. However, the process requires a recommendation from a meeting of the zoning board, which Bennett is trying to schedule.
Curtis Field of Prochaska & Associates architects reviewed preliminary drawings for a jail expansion with the commissioners via Zoom. The jail project originated as a plan to convert available space in the existing jail into more prisoner beds, but the project morphed into an addition that would extend another 54 feet toward the alley and include two interview rooms and more storage. Discussing the uncertainty of costs, Field urged the commissioners to submit the drawings to Beckenhauer Construction, builders of the current jail, for more accurate costs, a no-cost above the $8,500 already paid to Prochaska & Associates for the preliminary drawings.
Commissioners seemed reluctant to take that step, however, saying they didn’t believe the cost would vary from the $1 million already estimated.
During the discussion following the call, McNutt noted that amount would be half the ARPA month the county was receiving, and all three seemed to favor paying for other county needs, such as roads, bridges and courthouse repairs such as windows.
While a full jail has occasionally forced authorities to transfer prisoners to other jails on recent occasions, the cost, which Dean estimated at $50 a day, couldn’t justify the expense of building a new jail. The county spent many years transporting prisoners after new jail standards were imposed and before the current jail was built.
Under the consent agenda, commissioners gave permission to Wardcraft Homes to transport a home from Linden to West 9th and Q, where it will be placed as part of a McCook Economics Development Corp. housing initiative.
Accounts payable were approved for $274,861 and two bookcases were declared surplus.