County rejects storm water drainage bid accepted by city

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by Patty Cheffey

Rejecting the lowest bid, stating they would prefer one of the Marion County bidders, the Marion County Commission sent the bids for the storm water drainage project back to the city of Palmyra.

That decision was made during the Marion County Commission meeting Monday morning, at which they also signed paperwork for the bridge project on County Road 402, heard presentation from Harvest Outreach and Chariton Valley and from two other individuals.

After opening bids last Tuesday and meeting on Thursday, the Palmyra City Council voted to approve the lowest bid from  T&B Trucking & Excavating from Hurdland, Mo. contingent on approval from the county commission which has stated they are willing to pay for half of the project.

According to Mark Bross, with Kingner and Associates, his group has worked with T&B Trucking & Excavating on other projects and stated he believed them to be a reliable company.

In a letter to the city, Bross also noted the current bidding climate is unpredictable with rising material costs, making it difficult to estimate for smaller projects.

The engineers estimate started out at around $60,000 to $75,000, but was at $95,308.95 at the time of the bid.

T&B Trucking’s bid was $150,932.70.

Also bidding were George Lee Jr. Construction, Hannibal, $158,143.60; Bleigh Construction, Hannibal, $159,000;  Fischer Grading, Montgomery City, Mo., $186,367.40 and Mick Mehler & Sons, Silex, Mo., $228,960.

While they are still willing to pay for half the amount of the project, Presiding Commissioner David Lomax as well as Eastern District Commission Larry Welch and Western District Commission Steve Begley said they would prefer one of the two Marion County bidders get the bid.

Stating he would have liked to have known that prior to putting out the bid specs, which do not state Marion County bidders would be considered first,  Bross said he would take the information back to the city for their consideration.

In other business, paperwork for the County Road 402 bridge project was signed.

That paperwork, including the plans for the project, will be turned over to MoDOT for their approval.

Matthew Walker with Poepping, Stone and Bach, noted they will also need a flood plain permit.

The commissioners heard a report from Amy Vaughn and Larry Hines concerning the Harvest Reach program and the need for assistance through the American Recovery Funds Act.

According to Vaughn, the faith-based organization has several programs, including Loaves and Fishes, a food distribution program and living facilities for addiction recovery.

Hines noted that COVID hindered several programs, forcing the moving of the Loaves and Fishes distribution program, but that Harvest Outreach has recently purchased property on Lyon Street in Hannibal to build a permanent home for the Loaves and Fishes program as well as provide a community room.

Noting they will be building a facility as funds become available, Harvest Outreach requested the county consider dedicating $100,000 of the Recovery funds to the project.

While they made no definite commitment, the commissioners noted they are still waiting on more specific guidelines before they can begin distribution of the funds.

Chariton Valley was also present to ask the county for possible funds to expand broadband in the county, outlining the area they are considering for that project.

The county also heard from Michele Nunemacher about HB271 and wanted to know the commissioners reaction to that. All admitted they had not read anything about it yet.

They also heard from Michelle Todd, who provided information on self governance.

The commissioners also approved the following board to the Marion County Library Subdistrict #1: Ellen Stuhlman, president; Andrea Barnes, vice president; Jerry Trower, treasurer; Leeanna Delaney, secretary; and Margie Humphries, trustee.