Commissioners accept bid for new courthouse roof

McCOOK, Neb. — American Rescue Plan Act money will be used to install a new roof on the Red Willow County courthouse.

The current roof is about 25 years old, and officials hope the new one will last at least that long. The winning bid was submitted by Eco Guard of McCook, $49,329.70 for the roof and $1,850 for an access hatch for a total of $51,179.70.

Weathercraft Roofing submitted a bid of $59,590 and $2,850 for a total of 62,440, and Complete Roofing of Elwood bid $101,557 and $8612 for a total of $110,169.

No timeline was available from the bidders, but the work is to be completed by Sept. 30. Old air conditioning units and the equipment will be removed at the time the work is being done.

Commissioners agreed to pay $5.500 to set up a new tab for the County Clerk on the county’s website, a change urged by the state. According to Deputy County Clerk Penelope Cooper, the new geographic information system link will be most helpful to the public for determining voting districts and will be a welcome change from the current complicated system. The clerk’s office will be able to budget for the link’s annual $4,500 cost, she said.

A representative of the Frenchman Valley Co-op was a no-show at Monday’s meeting, leaving county questions about the billing system unanswered. The county and City of McCook have an interlocal agreement to purchase gasoline and diesel at a discount from annual bidders. Current fuel prices are more than twice this year’s winning bid, all below $3 a gallon for various grades of gasoline and diesel.

Following a public hearing, commissioners agreed to amend the current budget to deal with an unexpected $6,104.74 refund from a company that overcharged the county for bond refinancing services.

Under the consent agenda, the board approved $12,309.63 for Richards Brothers Ventures for gravel for the fairgrounds, with Cayla Richards abstaining. Total claims approved were $286,591.06. Other items included several dates for property valuation protests in July, with the final decision on July 25; declaring several treasurer’s office items as surplus property, and signing the contract with Figgins Construction for this year’s armor coating projects.