Commission accepts Pine Creek concrete bid

The Howell County Commission covered many topics during their meetings last week. This included hearing concrete bids, requests for proposals, grants, and the approval of records, accounts, and more. Sitting in on Thursday's meeting was Brian Williams, who won his primary election for the Southern Commissioner seat earlier this month. Williams, who is running unopposed for the November election, is expected to take the seat in January, as sitting Southern Commissioner Billy Sexton has announced he would not seek reelection earlier this year. 

 

The commission accepted a bid for concrete work at the Pine Creek low-water crossing on County Road 1130 in northern Howell County. The bid for concrete work comes from T & J Concrete for a total of $108,507. This project was the largest, and most expensive, of the ones heard during the meeting on Thursday. The Pine Creek project was the only concrete project for the Northern Commission. Northern Commissioner Calvin Wood said he made a rough estimate that the work would be around $125,000. While this was the only qualified bid for the project, Wood said he didn't want to kick this can, and that he wanted to get this project going. The T & J Concrete bid was unanimously accepted by the commission for the project. 

 

The Southern Commission heard concrete bids for five different projects, with varying bids. The companies placed bids on concrete work for County Road (CR) 6420, CR 7390, CR 6950, CR 7200, and CR 9330. The first bid opened came from Stone Construction at a total of $171,595. The second bid came from K. Davis Enterprises at a total of $207,228. The third bid came from T & J Concrete at a total of $254,000. The bids for CR 9330 had the largest variance, with Stone bidding $48,000, K. Davis bidding $62,160, and T & J bidding $88,200. The commission decided to table these bids for further discussion. Present for the bids were Kolton Davis of K. Davis Enterprises and Bill Stone of Stone Construction.

 

Another company had placed a bid for the Northern and Southern Commission projects but did not include the required paperwork, primarily the bid bond, and was disqualified from having their bid heard. Missouri Statute 227.100 requires that construction bids include a certified check, cashier's check, or a bid bond, guaranteed by a surety company that is authorized to conduct business in the state. The checks of the unsuccessful bidders are required to be returned by this statute, as well.

 

The Commission heard requests for proposal (RFP) for a managed service provider. The intention of this RFP is to solicit responses and formal proposals from qualified Managed IT Service Providers and select a single organization to provide IT services to the county, according to the RFP paperwork. The county received proposals from Unified Systems in West Plains, ComSec Consulting in West Plains, Stronghold Data in Joplin, and their current provider, PCnet in Springfield. The commission will be constructing a review team to go over the proposals and took no further action on the RFP during the meeting.

 

The Commission approved a grant for the county clerk's office concerning election security. Howell County Clerk Kelly Waggoner presented Grant 02-45 to the commission on Thursday. This is the HAVA Election Security Grant that was previously presented to the commission. Waggoner said that the county would receive $11,750 for physical and cyber security. “We're going to look at some locks for doors, either keycard or key passes for doors,” said Waggoner. HAVA Election Security Grants are 100% funded by the federal government to the states, who then divide that money to local election authorities. The grant was unanimously accepted by the commission.

 

In business that did not receive much discussion, the commission approved abatements and additions, the March through July commission records, and accounts payable. 

 

The Howell County Commissioners are Presiding Commissioner Ralph Riggs, Northern Commissioner Calvin Wood, and Southern Commissioner Billy Sexton. The commission meets in regular session on Mondays and Thursdays, from 10 am to 3:30 pm. The meetings remain open during the lunch hour and are open to the public. Contact the commissioners' chamber by phone at (417) 256-3872.