County approves bids for mowing, cleaning

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by Patty Cheffey

While still waiting to hire a janitor/maintenance person for the Palmyra Courthouse, the Marion County Commission approved two bids to do lawn work and cleaning.

The bids were approved during Monday’s meeting, at which the commissioners also approved a request from Donna Goodin, county collector, and voted to stay with Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates for the jail roof project.

Three bids were received for mowing and trimming of the Palmyra Courthouse lawn, including the low bid, which was approved, from Branching Out.

That bid was for $60 for each time the lawn is mowed and trimmed.

Other bidders were Andy Hudson, $80 per session and Gary Keim, $135 per session.

Two bids were received for thorough cleaning of the courthouse with employees maintaining trash.

Allen’s Restoration presented a bid of $550 for bi-weekly cleaning at the courthouse while Stout’s Cleaning Service gave a bid of $750 for the first two bi-weekly cleanings, followed by $500 per cleaning after that.

Noting they have had success with Stout’s in the past, the commissioners approved that bid.

They also noted they are hoping to hire someone soon to fill the position.

In other business, Donna Goodin requested and received permission to reclassify a couple of her office employees to allow them to get pay raises.

Even though the county does not normally approve pay raises in the middle of the year, since Goodin said her current budget could withstand the pay increases with no problems, including the benefits, the commissioners approved her request.

They also briefly discussed the new contracts with cities to collect taxes on their behalf.

Goodin is asking for an increase for that work from the cities, and noted she had heard from James Lemon, representing Palmyra.

Larry Welch, Eastern District commissioner, said he would like to see the issue put on hold for a year as Hannibal currently has no mayor and no clerk and is in “bit of a financial bind” right now, he said.

Goodin noted since Lemon is also Hannibal city’s attorney, he is aware of the request and new contract.

The commissioners voted to stay with Poepping, Stone, Bach and Associates for the engineering work on the jail roof, although they had been working with Martin Meyer who has moved to a different company.

Since they have signed a contract with PSBA, both Welch and Presiding Commissioner David Lomax questioned if the county could even legally change companies.

Mike Schaefer, highway supervisor, reported they had cleared some trees and limbs off roads in the county following the strong winds on Saturday evening.

He also noted they will begin blacktop work after July 4.

Teya Stice, county coordinator, reported work on the new tiling at the Palmyra Courthouse will begin after July 4 and that work on the jail roof is still slated to begin end of July or first of August.

Commissioners also signed Urban Wiskirchen’s plat for Urban Ridge Subdivision and approved the appointment of Linda Raney to take the place of Jerry Trower on the Marion County Library, Subdistrict #1 board.

They also asked Stice to look into information about obtaining an automatic winder for the tower clock.