The Jackson County Legislature on Sept. 22 authorized the county executive to sign a cooperative agreement with the city of Kansas City and MoDOT to replace the Rock Island Bridge and later approved a construction contract to connect the Rock Island Trail with the Little Blue Trace Trail.

The county executive agreement (ordinance 6010) was moved to perfection and placed on the consent agenda with reported urgency from Parks and Public Works staff. During discussion a legislator said, "the urgency as I understand it is, that we've got some federal funds that we could put at risk if we don't get moving on this fairly soon." County staff later clarified the immediate urgency related to MoDOT funding.

On the construction contract (ordinance 6004), the legislature approved a bid award to Mega KC Corporation, Kansas City, for trail construction at a county cost not to exceed $2,870,540. Several legislators voiced concern over a large disparity between the winning bid and another bid that was roughly 50% higher; one legislator asked whether the engineering estimate matched the low bid and reported that engineering estimates were close to the selected low bid, providing independent credence for that award.

Roll-call votes were recorded in the meeting minutes when the contract was adopted. The record shows the contract passed with eight votes in favor, one no and one absence recorded in the roll calls for the contract item (the recorded tally was "7 yes, 1 no, 1 absent" on the contractor award roll call and a separate roll call for adoption showed a majority in favor). Legislators requested a future site tour of the project area.

Why this matters: the work links two regional trails and affects federal, state (MoDOT) and local funding flows. Bidders’ price divergence raised questions among legislators about scope and methodology; staff said the county’s engineering estimate was similar to the awarded low bid.

Next steps: execution of the cooperative agreement and contract awards will proceed; the county and Kansas City will coordinate construction and project oversight per agreement terms, and legislators asked staff to notify them of an on-site tour and timeline for work.