County roads to get work in August-September

Jul. 9—Cass County will pave four sections of roads between August and the end of September — and for less than expected.

On Monday, the Cass County Commissioners approved a bid of $1.057 million from Rieth-Riley Construction for the Community Crossing grant project.

The engineer's estimate was $1.345 million, said Cass County Highway Superintendent Jeff Smith.

Of that project cost, the state's Community Crossings grant will pay for 75%, he said.

Cass will pay the other 25%.

The roads to get repairs and improvements are:

—County Road 900 East between County Road 450 North and Indiana 16.

—County Road 900 East between Galveston (south of the park) and County Road 1400 South.

—County Road 325 East between U.S. 35 and County Road 450 South.

—County Road 550 West/575 West between U.S. 35 and Indiana 16.

Indiana offers the Community Crossings grants twice a year.

Counties, cities and other municipalities must apply for the grants with proposed projects that the state can accept all or part of.

Smith said according to the contract, the work needs to be completed by the end of September, so it will likely start in August to make that deadline.

Also at Monday's meeting, the commissioners approved a resolution adopting Indiana Code section 5-3.

Because the three commissioners did not talk about the resolution before voting unanimously to pass it, residents at the meeting were unhappy and asked questions during the public comments section.

Commissioners attorney Jeff Stanton said this will allow the county an option for capital improvements, such as the new Cass County Jail wing under construction, but won't make it a required option.

It allows architectural, engineering and construction firms to bid together on a capital improvement project, which would then have a public hearing where people can comment and the commissioners can decide whether to accept the bid.

This could be used for a small project, such as changes in the building on Smith Street that Logansport Memorial Hospital has given to the Cass County Health Department, Stanton said.

Commissioners President Ryan Browning said if Cass uses this process, there would be a set price that could not change.

With the jail project, the commissioners have approved change orders on work at almost every meeting since the project began.

Browning said that using this new process approved in the resolution, there could be no change orders.

The firms involved would be held to their predicted cost for a project, although there'd be a contingency fund for some unforeseen expenses.

After their meeting, the commissioners met in a closed executive session to discuss real estate matters.

State law allows for government bodies to hold closed meetings to discuss legal matters, employee matters and real estate.

Closed sessions for real estate are often used to discuss price without alerting speculators who might attempt to buy the land before the government is able to.

Reach James D. Wolf Jr. at james.wolf@pharostribune.com or 574-732-5117

Twitter @JamesDWolfJr