County Commission learns specifics of County Road 67 project delays

Talk about it

The Stutsman County Commission learned the specifics Tuesday of some problems with a road project on County Road 67 at Hehn Schaffer Lake.

“We ended up having to suspend the project because they were so far behind,” said Casey Bradley, auditor/chief operating officer of Stutsman County.

The road project is a permanent restoration following a temporary grade raise due to 2011 flooding. The work includes widening County Road 67 as well as adding blacktop and riprap on its sides, and its cost estimate is $1.3 million.

Aspen Construction Co. was being charged penalties of about $1,300 a day for each day the project was not complete. The penalties and the work were called to a halt on Dec. 7, when it became too cold to continue.

Penalties will resume if work is not completed before April 15, Bradley said.

Initially, Aspen was assessed penalties for 37 days, but Bradley informed the commission the number had been adjusted to 30 days.

That was because preliminary engineering estimates from Interstate Engineering had indicated 49,500 cubic yards of dirt would need to be brought to fill in the site, when it actually required 72,541 cubic yards of dirt — about 46 percent more than expected.

Neither Aspen nor Interstate representatives spoke at the meeting.

In other news Tuesday, the commission:

* voted to keep Mark Klose as its chairman for 2013, with Denny Ova serving as vice chairman. Committee assignments remained the same.

* agreed to keep an employee who has cancer on the payroll through December so that he can retain his health insurance. He will utilize his vacation and sick time intermittently, between periods of unpaid personal leave.

* approved the purchase of a service truck and welding equipment for the Stutsman County Highway Department for approximately $21,000. It had been budgeted at $25,000.

* approved the adjustment of property values for two different parcels owned by two people, one of which had been set too high and the other too low.

* learned that November’s general election had cost the county $2.71 per vote, with 9,680 ballots counted.

* permitted three county employees to carry over their vacation hours because they had not been able to use the time due to unusual work circumstances, such as turnover within an office.

Sun reporter Kari Lucin can be reached at 701-952-8453 or by email at klucin

@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, roads