BLOOMFIELD, Mo. -- The Stoddard County Commission awarded contracts to Whitehead Electric and Langford Mechanical and Sheet Metal, Inc. for a project at the Stoddard County Jail at their regular meeting Monday morning.
The work will include electrical work in Cell Blocks C & D dealing with emergency lighting and electrical outlets. Whitehead Electric is doing the work at a cost of $3,850.
Building Superintendent William Dowdy suggested that the project also include installing an electrical switch that would automatically shut water off in the cell blocks when activated. The work is to be done by Langford at a cost of $2,000.
Commissioner Danny Talkington said in talking with the sheriff's office, the shut off switch for water was needed during inspections. He said there were some other issues that would also be alleviated with the completion of the electrical work.
Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis asked if there was any other discussion. There was none. He then asked for a motion.
Talkington made the motion to award the two contracts, and Commissioner Carol Jarrell seconded it. It passed by a 3-0 vote. The project is estimated to take a week or week and a half to complete.
County Clerk Joe Watson presented the commission with a proposed agreement with the Little River Drainage District for replacement of bridges on County Road 784 (LaValle Special Road District) and County Road 754 (Elk Township). The agreement specifies what is required of the county in replacing the bridges and allows them to use drainage district easements for the work.
Mathis said the county had not yet received approval from the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to move forward on the projects. He said he had called MoDOT at the request of Smith and Company Engineers who is designing the bridges. The holdup on approval was the lack of a signed agreement with the Little River Drainage District.
Little River District Engineer W. Dustin Boatwright, P. E., prepared the agreement and sent it back to the commission for both the bridges. The agreement also specifies certain drainage features for the ditches crossed by the bridges.
Mathis asked the other commissioners if they had had comments.
"I didn't see anything in the agreements to be alarmed about," said Talkington.
"Neither did I," responded Jarrell.
Jarrell made the motion to approve signing the agreements, and it passed by a 3-0 vote.
Mathis distributed information about all bridges built or replaced by the county dating back to 2003. There have been 13 bridges replaced since that time. He noted that all those bridges were built 24 feet wide to meet AASHTO roadside standards.
The width of the bridges has become an issue since the commission held a conference call with the Federal Management Agency (FEMA) officials about rebuilding a bridge on County Road 410 (Castor Township). The bridge was destroyed during a flood in 2011. FEMA committed to paying 75 percent of the cost of rebuilding the bridge, but the estimate was less than $200,000. The old bridge was 19 feet in width and did not have guard rails. The new bridge is to be 24 feet in width and have guard rails.
FEMA asked the commission for a resolution or other official action showing that they had made it an official county policy that all bridges built after 1999 would be 24 feet in width.
"There is no such resolution," said Mathis.
He said he would have Smith and Company prepare an official resolution so that it could be adopted by the commission.
"It will not do us any good for the County Road 410 bridge," noted Mathis.
Mathis said he would have the clerk send a list of all the bridges built since 2003 that showed they were all 24 feet in width.
"I don't think that is going to help us with FEMA," said Mathis.
"I would like to have something in place to set the bridge specifications at 24 feet for the future," said Mathis.
Talkington said he didn't understand why FEMA officials waited three years before informing the county of what their requirements were for rebuilding the bridge.
"I, too, wonder why they are just informing us they have a problem with the width and the guard rails," said Jarrell.
Mathis said FEMA officials apparently believe the county is trying to upgrade the bridge at FEMA's expense. He said it would be up to the commission to decide if they were going to scale the project back or pay the difference in cost of the 24-foot bridge.