St. Clair County Commission approves hires, contracts and project changes; multiple routine motions carried

The St. Clair County Commission carried a slate of routine and substantive motions at its regular meeting on April 20, approving hires, project contracts and equipment purchases while receiving updates on ongoing road work and facilities.

The commission approved the meeting agenda and minutes of the prior regular meeting by voice vote. County Engineer Dan Dahlke summarized multiple road projects and recommended several personnel hires; the commission approved the hires in a single motion. Recommended new hires included Mark Ellenberg (Road Worker I), Gary Duncan (Skilled Mechanic), Anthony Tidwell, Hunter Brown and Dustin Horn (Intermediate Road Workers) and Thomas Bowers (general labor). The commission approved an additional part-time temporary rehire for retired employee Thomas Woods, subject to standard county attorney review for contract form.

On capital and consulting items, the commission approved entering a consultant agreement proposal from George F. Young for preliminary engineering and grant development related to a safety project at the intersection of County Road 33 and County Road 26; the proposal’s budget line in Dahlke’s report was $49,959. The board approved a change order on the Trails Inn road project to add groundwater drainage and slope stabilization work, described in the meeting as $28,949 in additional work; Dahlke said the overall project cost would be “a…