Cowlitz County awards guardrail installation; multiple public-works contracts and a $6.5 million landfill services agreement reported

The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners approved a public-works bid award for a countywide guardrail installation project and reviewed several consent-agenda contracts for infrastructure and services.

Susan Eugenis, county engineer, presented the motion agenda item: a bid award to DIRT and Aggregate Interchange Inc. for the countywide guardrail project at a total cost of $298,888. Eugenis told the board the work is for installation of new guardrail (not repair) and that the project is 90% funded with highway-safety funds. The board moved to approve the award and commissioners voted "Aye" in roll call; the motion carried.

On the consent agenda, county staff reported multiple contract actions and planned solicitations:

- A call for bids for construction of a storage building for the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office to centralize emergency equipment (boats, Bearcat armored vehicle and others) at a corner of the fairgrounds; money for the project has been set aside in public works.

- A proposed three-year extension with Motorola Solutions for body and vehicle cameras. The extension was presented as a three-year agreement totaling $190,004.49, with payments to be spread evenly across the years.

- Road materials purchases awarded to JL Stordahl for the period 2025-05-01 through 2026-04-30 after adding additional bidders to the vendor list.

- Contract and bond-in-lieu-of-retainage executed with Lakeside Industries for the countywide pavement overlay project, described by staff as "a little over $2.5 million."

- An executed agreement with Norpac (North Pacific Paper Company LLC) for solid-waste disposal services at the county headquarters landfill. The voucher amount reported in the meeting was $6,518,002.62 and 51¢ as presented by staff.

Commissioners accepted the consent agenda by voice vote after a motion. Commissioners thanked staff for moving long-pending items forward and asked no additional motions or amendments for the items discussed. The guardrail award motion was made from the floor and carried by an affirmative vote. No additional conditions or amendments were recorded in the meeting minutes for these items.

Ending

Staff said some of the projects have been in planning for several years and that materials and contractor availability affected scheduling; the board approved the guardrail bid award and approved the consent agenda items as presented but did not authorize additional funding changes during the meeting.