Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Roads topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Clay County hears highway department's 2024 report; board approves project advertisement and low bids
Summary
The county's highway staff presented its 2024 annual report, detailed staffing and equipment changes, and reviewed construction highlights. The board voted to advertise a local road improvement project in Holly and approved two low bids for county state-aid projects.
Clay County highway staff presented the department's 2024 annual update on March 18 and asked the board to approve several project actions, including advertisement of a local road improvement contract and acceptance of low bids for two county state-aid paving projects.
Justin, representing the Clay County Highway Department, summarized staffing, equipment and workload for 2024 and plans for 2025. He described the department's mission to build and maintain county and township roads to federal and state standards, outlined the organization chart, and listed 2024 highlights, including 11.5 miles of paving completed and 133 bridge inspections. Justin said the department purchased two new plow trucks in 2024 and acquired the former Holl y MnDOT shop on the east side of Holly for $276,000 and moved operations there.
On project work, Justin said the county secured a local road improvement grant for a Fifteenth Street grading and paving project in Holly and asked the board to allow advertisement for bids. "The proposed letting date would be 04/22/2025," he told the board. Commissioners approved the advertisement for the project (SAP 14002 / Fifteenth Street in Holly) with the stated letting date.
The board then opened and read competitive bids for two county state-aid paving projects and voted to approve low bidders contingent on bid-compliance reviews. For SAP014634031 (a mill-and-overlay from the east city limits of Ulen to the county line), Central Specialties Inc. submitted the apparent low bid at $728,374.61; the board approved the low bid "contingent upon no errors in the bids." For the concrete pavement-rehab project identified in the meeting as SB01461155 (concrete rehab of CSAH 11, including joint sealing, diamond grinding and panel replacements), Diamond Surface Inc. was approved as low bidder at $1,063,772.98 contingent on State Aid approval.
Justin also described pavement and maintenance work: 36 miles of crack-filling in 2024, three township bridge designs completed, fuel expenditures of about $293,480 and the department's plan to certify more bridge-inspection technicians to avoid reliance on outside contractors. He detailed funding awards: a local road improvement grant of $535,000, an HSIP award of $750,000 for a roundabout, federal/district grants totaling more than $1 million for future overlay projects, and Metro COG (TMA) funding for a 2027 mill-and-overlay project.
Commissioners asked about operational details including road class definitions, bridge-count methodology and a CenturyLink utility conflict that delayed a prior project; highway staff said the delay resulted in an additional expense to taxpayers and that staff and county attorneys continue to pursue resolution with MnDOT and the contractor.
The board approved the advertisement and accepted the two low bids by voice vote. Approvals of low bids were subject to standard bid-compliance checks and, for the federal project, to State Aid acceptance.
Proposed and approved actions will move forward to contract processing and the county will return to the board if irregularities are found during bid review.
