COG, Berry donate to RRVT maintenance
The deck on the new Grimmell Rd bridge across the Raccoon River in Jefferson may be poured yet this week, county engineer Wade Weiss told the county supervisors at their March 31 meeting. Other work will take another couple of weeks, he said.
Bridge replacement is ongoing across the county. The secondary roads 5-year construction plan includes replacing seven bridges and rehabilitating three others. The supervisors approved the plan as presented by Weiss at the meeting.
Replacement of the Parkland Ave bridge in Grant Township at a cost of $800,000, and the X Ave bridge in Junction Township at a cost of $400,000, is scheduled for next year, FY 2026.
A pair of bridges on County Road E-26 will get attention in FY 27. The bridge just east of Hwy 4 will be replaced at a cost of $900,000. The bridge a mile west P-33 will be rehabilitated at a cost of $400,000. Also, the bridge just east of Rippey on CR E-57 will also be replaced at a cost of $600,000.
The bridge on E-57 about a mile east of the Carroll County line is slated for replacement in FY28 at a cost of $900,000. That same year the bridge on 230th St about a mile east of Scranton will be replaced at a cost of $400,000.
In FY29, the last year of the plan, the bridge on E-33 in Bristol Township will be replaced at a cost of $850,000. Bridges to be rehabilitated are on CR P-14 north of County Road E-57 at a cost of $350,000, and on CR E-63 just west of Hwy 4 at a cost of $450,000.
The most expensive project in the plan is repaving E-26 from Dana east to the county line and P-46 from E-26 south to Hwy 30 at a total cost of $10.5 million.
E-36 between Hwys 4 and 144, and CR P-33 between Hwy 30 and E-18 will be patched in FY 27 at a cost of $1 million.
Funding for the projects totals $19.35 million. Of that, $11.9 million comes from tax increment financing (TIF) revenue from the wind turbines in the eastern portion of the county. $4.25 million will be paid for with farm-to-market funds, and the remaining funds will be federal.
Weiss said priorities and funding often change for the work in the last two years of the plan.
In other business related to roads, the supervisors awarded a contract for pavement marking at various locations to Local Traffic Services at a cost of $124,3120; and a contract with Dixon Construction for bridge replacement this summer on the Carroll/Greene County line. The bid price was $855,770. The two counties are sharing the cost.
In other business, the supervisors set April 14 at 9 am as the date for a meeting to discuss the proposition of entering into a loan agreement for the issuance of not to exceed $2 million general obligation capital loan notes for the courthouse HVAC project.
That meeting was originally set for April 7 but was rescheduled because of an error in how it was noticed to the public. With the later date, the deadline for submitting a petition calling for an election on using LOSST revenue to pay for the HVAC project via a transfer from the LOSST fund to the general fund. That deadline is now May 15. According to auditor Billie Hoskins, 488 signatures would be needed to call for the election.
At the beginning of the meeting, Craig Berry of Jefferson (pictured, right), a member of the now disbanded Cyclists of Greene, presented conservation director Tanner Scheuermann (left) with checks totaling about $3,500 for maintenance of the Raccoon Rivery Valley Trail. One was his personal check, while the other was from the Cyclists of Greene.
