Dunn County commissioners approved a string of contractor pay estimates and heard project updates from road department staff during their regular meeting. The board voted to pay multiple pay estimates to local contractors and discussed ongoing easement and wetland issues on several projects.

Road department engineering staff provided project-by-project updates and identified next steps. Carl, road department engineer, said the office is continuing to secure last easements and redesigning grading plans to avoid cultural sites: “Twelfth Street, we’re working on the easements as well, setting up some meetings in the field,” and on Sixteenth Street “we did redesign the grading around the cultural site on that project.” He also reported a grading plan for Twentieth Street with “0.31 acres of wetland disturbance” and said staff is “looking to identify if we can mitigate that on-site or if credits will be necessary.”

Separately, staff recommended and the commission approved pay estimates for current construction: commissioners approved payment of $160,245.68 to Schwartz Construction for the 20 Seventh Street Southwest project after a motion by Commissioner Pelton and second by Commissioner Heiser; a payment of $93,647 to Bronco Brothers for the 119th and 20 Second Street work (motion by Commissioner Heizer, second by Commissioner Freeman); Bronco Brothers was also approved for $216,141.45 on 100th and Fifth Avenue (motion by Commissioner Pelton, second by Commissioner Olsen); and Jensen/Gensch Brothers was approved for $91,452.86 for the 90 Seventh Avenue pass estimate (motion by Commissioner Heiser, second by Commissioner Pelton). Each motion carried on roll call votes.

Staff gave schedule and coordination details for upcoming work. Jeremy, staff, said Bechtel Paving aims to start the 90 Eighth Avenue and Forest Street project the week of Labor Day, and Bronco Brothers plans culvert work on the Tenth St/100th & Thirteenth Ave job in late August. He noted design work on BIA 10 will be finished in the next two weeks and that the county’s role there was limited to engineering; the owner (tribal authority) would be responsible for construction and right-of-way verification. James, staff, recommended paying Schwartz Construction’s estimate and answered questions about excavation costs, reporting that rock excavation rates rose to about $30 per cubic yard.

Commissioners asked for follow-up on outstanding easements and the status of wetland mitigation decisions, with staff noting those items will return to the commission as discrete decisions when necessary. No new county-wide ordinance or policy changes were proposed in this discussion.

The board’s action on payments marks a near-term effect for several ongoing projects; staff said they will continue to schedule landowner meetings, finalize easements, and submit revised grading and permit documents where cultural or wetland impacts require design changes.