Winter Storm Q caused a number of cancellations and closures on Thursday, including the closure of Riley County offices. For this reason, a number of items from that tentative agenda carried over to Monday’s meeting the following week.
The busy agenda included two bid openings-one for aerial photography project and one for the CPE elevater update project.
Only one bid was submitted for the elevator modernization. Thyssen Krupp, out of Wichita, submitted a base bid of $119,104 and an alternate bid of $8,454.24. The commission moved the bid forward for staff evaluation and recommendation.
A total of eight bids were submitted for the 2013 aerial photography project. Companies from throughout the United States submitted 1/2 foot resolution and one foot resolution bids. Some companies also included alternate bids for corner sections. The complete list of companies, locations and bids are listed below:
- Fugro Earth Data Inc.-Frederck, Maryland
1/2 foot-$69,000
one foot-$48,000
alternate-$499,800
- Surdex Corporation- Chesterfield, Missouri
1/2 foot-$47,500
- Wilson and Company- Salina, Kansas
base bid-$89,900
alternate-$312,000
- Sanborn- Colorado Springs, Colorado
off shore-$72,200
on shore-$96,432
alternate-$717,074
- Aerial Services- Cedar Falls, Iowa
1/2 foot-$54,860
- Kucera International
1/2 foot-$74,600
one foot-$$44,500
alternate-$487,500
- Pictometry International-Rochester, New York
total project-$408,110
- PremierGeo- Arvada, Colorado
1/2 foot-$74,317
enhanced DEM-$151,085
corner-$177,240
All of these bids were approved by the commission for staff evaluation and recommendation.
Public Works Director, Leon Hobson came forward for three different items during the meeting. The first item involved the discussion of a motor grader, but the facilities study item is perhaps of the most interest.
During previous commission meetings, the discussion of office space for all of the county entities has been a popular topic. Studies have been done, and Hobson shared a five phase project that seems to be the best way to fix the space issue. The first step would involve purchasing and tearing down the First Christian Church on Poyntz. The following phases include renovating buildings, and the addition of a three (possibly four) floor building to house a majority of county departments. This building would also include additional courtrooms that would be much larger than the rooms in the courthouse. A parking lot would be available for employees approximately four feet under the building.
The commission decided to bring these recent updates to the city sometime in the near future, to discuss the possibility of collaboration on parts of this project.
Hobson also came forward with the possibility of relocating the West 40th bridge to Fairmont Park. The cost of moving the bridge proved to be only slightly beneficial, considering the cost of a brand new bridge is not far away. Commission Chair, Dave Lewis commented, “I don’t see why we should spend any money on moving this bridge”.
With Commissioner, Robert Boyd leaving earlier in the meeting, the decision was left to Lewis and Commissioner, Robert Wells. Both commissioners were in agreement that this project should not move forward, and if the need ever came for a bridge in Fairmont, they would purchase a new one at that time.
During the meeting’s press conference, various county officials shared upcoming events including- Walk Kansas-set to begin March 17th.
