Richland County commissioners approved multiple procurement and capital items Tuesday, including the purchase of two tandem-axle dump trucks, a replacement pickup for bridge inspections, an ODOT pavement-marking agreement funded by a grant, and a small maintenance add-on for building HVAC work.

County engineer/maintenance staff requested authorization to purchase two tandem-axle International dump-truck chassis from Hill International at a quoted price of $140,008.33 per vehicle; the meeting record shows a combined total for two vehicles recorded as $281,666.80. The trucks will require additional outfitting with dump beds and salt spreaders; the transcript includes an outfitting estimate phrase that appears garbled in the record and the exact outfitting cost was not specified. The presenter said the trucks will primarily be used for winter snow-and-ice control and routine highway maintenance.

The board also approved a quoted purchase of a new Ford F-150 from Graham Automall for $45,656 to replace a 2013 F-150 used for bridge inspections. The presenter said the older vehicle has reliability concerns and the county intends to reuse it in the fleet if it can be repaired.

The commissioners authorized the county engineer to enter an agreement with the Ohio Department of Transportation for pavement markings on county roads; the engineer said the county received a grant that will cover 100% of pavement-marking costs up to $100,000. The engineer characterized the project as scheduled in a multi-year program and indicated construction/marking work would occur in a later year as listed in the ODOT project schedule.

Separately, the board approved a maintenance add-on request from Standard Plumbing and Heating for air-conditioning work in the IT room at a county facility; the presenter cited the amount in the meeting record as $6,740 for the work and said funds would come from the reinvestment/maintenance budget line.

All procurement actions were approved on recorded votes. Presenters said purchases would be charged to the highway department's allocated funds or appropriate maintenance accounts; specific delivery dates were not guaranteed at the meeting.