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Public Works to contract out road striping, county moves to fill several operational positions
Summary
After comparing an $830,000 estimate for an in-house striping truck with a contractor bid of $538,000, Public Works decided to keep striping contracted out and will revisit buying equipment in future budget cycles; commissions approved requests to fill a vacant road supervisor and other departmental counter and IT specialist positions.
Public Services Director Mike Moss told commissioners the county compared the cost of buying a striping truck with continuing to contract out road striping and found no near-term return on investment for buying the truck.
“We did get pricing for the striping truck itself and with tax and delivery, it was $830,000,” Moss said. He said the county’s striping contract this year came in at $538,000. Moss summarized the county’s internal estimate as: “we are looking about $4.50 to $5.50 to $5.60 to do it in house, and and all stripes came in at $5.38.” (Units were not specified in the meeting transcript.)
Given the comparison, Moss said the county will contract the striping this year and review the decision in future budget cycles if market conditions change. He said the county had retained budget authority for both options during the budget process and will reassess when contract prices trend upward.
Moss and staff also presented several requests to fill vacant positions. Public Works asked to fill a road crew supervisor vacancy (one of four supervisory slots), a role left open since December while staff assessed striping options. The health department requested permission to fill a customer service specialist at the public counter after an employee gave notice. IT requested authorization to fill an IT specialist position up to level 4 following an employee’s two‑week notice. Public Works also requested authorization to recruit for a senior engineer to replace an open civil engineer position.
Commissioners asked questions about budget alignment and confirmed the fill requests work through the county’s approved budgets; staff said vacancies created short-term savings but that the county will refill essential operational positions.
Ending: The board indicated support for the fill requests; specific hires will proceed through the county’s recruitment and HR processes.
