Boone County commissioners approve bonds, contracts and procurement items including bridge environmental work and jail hot water system

Boone County commissioners approved a batch of procurement, bonding and contract actions during their Sept. 2 meeting, including acceptance of development performance bonds, authorization of environmental work for a federally funded bridge project, authorizations for county equipment purchases, and selection of bond counsel following a request-for-proposals process.

Bonds and bond counsel - Commissioners voted to accept four bonds: a $502,738.50 performance bond for Peabody Farms East Section 3; a $446,555 performance bond for Perryworth Road; a $723,396.30 performance bond for Bridle Oaks South Section 1; and a $170,544.96 maintenance bond for Windswept Funds. County staff moved to accept the bonds and the board voted to approve them. - After issuing an RFP for bond counsel, staff reported receiving four proposals and then follow-up revised proposals after additional information was shared with respondents. The board approved Bose McKinney & Evans as bond counsel based on revised, not-to-exceed proposals; that vote carried 2 to 1.

Contracts, procurement and authorizations - The board authorized USI to perform the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental clearance work for Bridge 139 (on 875 West near Baseline Road) at a cost of $35,500 with an additional $5,000 allowance if archaeological inspection is needed. - The commissioners approved a vendor ID badge request for five employees of two biohazard/remediation vendors to access the coroners garage area, after county public-safety staff explained the badges would be limited to the garage and that the area is under continuous video surveillance. - County staff were authorized to provide two additional coroner office cell phones and one investigator phone using funds already budgeted; staff told commissioners no additional county dollars were required. - The board approved using a spare county laptop so a part-time recorder employee with a temporary medical absence could perform indexing work from home rather than purchasing new equipment. - The board approved an appraisal request from the assessor to secure a 2025 appraisal from Bowman and Associates for a property under review, with staff noting the appraisal quote came in lower than a previous engagement. - The commissioners approved a quote of $11,313 to replace an air compressor for the highway department (pending legal review) and authorized the purchase of a redundant domestic hot water heater system for the Boone County Jail, quoting $83,800 to be paid from bond/pawn funds; the hot-water purchase was approved contingent on legal counsels review of the contract. - Staff asked the board to re-release an RFP for clinic options (health clinic) and the board approved releasing the RFP. - The county highway department requested a modification of a previously approved unofficial local detour for State Road 421; commissioners approved the change to use alternate local roads. - The board approved a contract for Accent Enterprise Inc., conditioned on adding clauses (E-Verify, IRAN certification clause and a good-faith clause); the county prosecutor indicated the contract would be signed if those clauses are included.

RFPs and assessments - The assessors office received two responses to separate assessment reassessment RFPs (GUTS and Nexus Group); commissioners took those proposals under advisement and asked staff to coordinate with the assessor on next steps.

Votes and contingencies: Several approvals were explicitly made contingent on legal review or the addition of contract clauses. Where votes were recorded as "All in favor, aye," county staff indicated unanimous support by the board during the meeting; the bond counsel selection was recorded as carrying 2 to 1.