County talks pickups, pipes, and contracts
SANDPOINT — A jam-packed agenda at Tuesday’s county commission meeting saw $1,675,976 allocated for repairs, equipment maintenance, asphalt contracts, and two 2022 Chevy Silverados, among other things.
The commissioners approved the consent agenda which was made of up three invoices, two from the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office, and one from the Road & Bridge Department. The sheriff’s office spent $8,600 on software, and $84,200 on two pickup trucks.
“The sheriff’s [office] had to get pickups this time because there are literally no Tahoes available — shouldn’t be surprising anybody,” Commission Chairman Dan McDonald said in response to being questioned about the contents of the invoices.
Another invoice brought by the Road & Bridge Department paid $37,574.01 for repairing broken pipes at their District 3 shop. The funds for the repair are covered by the department’s insurance.
The Clerk’s Office gained the commission's signatures approving moving $30,000 from the office’s A budget to the B budget.
Moving money from one budget to the other allows the Clerk’s office to take the funds originally to be paid as salary for the office’s comptroller, and allow them to pay for the contract agreements with the potential comptrollers. The prior comptroller submitted notice to the office in December.
A comptroller is a management position in finance, their role is to supervise and otherwise keep an eye on an organization’s financial reporting and quality of accounting.
“What that is, is back in December, my comptroller gave me a notice that she was leaving for a different company. So we have to contract for some of our comptroller services until we can find a replacement,” said County Clerk Michael Rosedale. “It’s the same dollars, just moved to the proper account.”
The Road & Bridge Department brought over one third of the meeting’s agenda, the most notable of which awarded $1,213,116.50 in asphalt contracts to Coeur d’Alene Paving Inc.
“Asphalt prices are up about 20% from what we would have paid last year for this same distance,” said Matt Mulder, staff engineer for Road & Bridge.
The project will pave a portion of Camp Bay Road and extend the asphalt on Clagstone Road to the Clagstone/Kelso intersection; both projects combined pave approximately five miles of Bonner County roads.
Commissioners approved awarding the contract with Coeur d’Alene Paving Inc.
Also involving asphalt, the Road & Bridge department sought the commission's approval to advertise for liquid asphalt oils.
“The low bid price will not be the sole determining factor in selecting a successful bidder,” Mulder said. “These liquid asphalt oils are used for pavement maintenance activities such as crack sealing, pothole patching, chip sealing, and BST surfaces.”
The contract will be for a four-year period, but each year the parties can choose to extend the contract for another four years, drastically reducing the bureaucratic process in awarding the contract. The department has designated up to $650,000 for the contract. According to Mulder, Road & Bridge is expecting a 33% increase in prices, when compared to last year’s costs.
“This would save a significant amount of time for Bonner County and the suppliers in going through this bid proposal and review and ranking and award process each year,” Mulder said.
Commissioners approved the advertising request.
The Board of County Commissioners hold public meetings every Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the administrative building located at 1500 U.S. 2. Those interested in virtually attending can do so via Zoom. A livestream of the meeting can be watched on the Bonner County YouTube page, where an archive of previous meetings can be viewed.