County approves several department purchases
Several purchases were approved for a variety of Jackson County departments during Monday’s Jackson County Commission meeting.
During the meeting, Dan Robinson, noxious weed director and solid waste manager, presented a revised purchase order for a new baler for the recycling center. The new baler is being purchased from MAX-PAK of Alabama at a cost of $62,604.
Robinson said the original estimate for the new baler was $83,718, but he was able to get the price reduced by removing some extra “bells and whistles” from the piece of equipment.
Robinson said it will take the company six to eight weeks to build the machine for the county. MAX-PAK requested that 30 percent of the total price ($18,781.20) be paid now.
Several bids were approved for work at the new road and bridge shop, which is located north of Holton.
The commissioners awarded the bid of $8,960 from Mark Sullivan Construction of Holton to pour 30 yards of concrete and rebar for the new tire room addition to the shop.
The other bids were $14,450 from KC Concrete of Kansas City, $8,993.31 from Eisenbarth Construction of Holton, $15,451.85 from Lamberson Construction of Netawaka and $12,389 from Frontier Concrete of Hoyt.
The commissioners also approved a bid of $2,995 from Bell Plumbing to re-plumb the bathrooms and water heater at the building that will be the new county shop.
Bids for fuel for county vehicles were opened during Monday’s meeting, and the bid was awarded to Knotty Pine Oil Company at a cost of $13,234. Haag Oil Company bid $13,504.10.
John Kennedy, Banner Creek Reservoir director, presented bids for a new overhead door at the reservoir’s maintenance shop.
The maintenance shop’s current sliding door is almost completely inoperable, Kennedy said. After discussing the issue with several door companies, the current doors would have to be removed completely and rebuilt in order for the issue to be fixed. Kennedy recommended that the sliding doors be replaced entirely with a 12-foot by 14-foot commercial steel overhead door.
The commissioners approved the low bid submitted by D&L Overhead Door Company of Topeka at a cost of $3,950. The other bids were $4,972 submitted by BT’s Overhead Door Company of Topeka and $8,179 submitted by Overhead Door Company of Topeka.
The commissioners also approved a $1,800 quote from Marketing Concepts of Holton to print new brochures for the reservoir.
In other business regarding the reservoir, Commission Chairman Janet Zwonitzer relayed to Kennedy several comments she has received about the south side of the reservoir not being open until May 1.
She said that depending on how the wind is blowing, some boaters prefer to launch their boats from the south dock and would like that side of the reservoir to be open sooner than May 1.
Zwonitzer said that someone also asked her if wi-fi could be added to the reservoir. Kennedy said that adding a wi-fi network would probably be very expensive but said he could ask a local Internet provider for an estimate.
