Finney County commission approves MOUs, bids and service agreements in routine business session

Finney County commissioners on a series of motions during their regular meeting approved an extension of a memorandum of understanding for Empirical Foods, accepted bids for the county’s 2025 chip‑sealing program and CMA material, authorized an updated juvenile-detention placement agreement with Reno County, and approved a $79,750 contract for an organizational staffing analysis with consulting firm Raftelis.

Empirical Foods MOU: Lana Duvall, president and CEO of the county’s economic development office, asked the commission to extend a previously agreed memorandum of understanding to give Empirical Foods additional time to complete its manufacturing facility. Duvall said the county appraiser estimates the manufacturing facility is about 90% complete and ancillary buildings are similarly close. The commission moved, seconded and approved the extension of the project MOU to Empirical Foods; no member recorded a dissent on the record.

Juvenile placement agreement: Sheriff Steve Martinez presented an updated intergovernmental agreement with Reno County that sets the county’s rate for placing juveniles at Reno County’s detention facility at $165 per day. Martinez said the amount is an update to a 2015 agreement and recommended the commission approve the contract and authorize the chair to sign. Commissioners approved the recommendation.

Public-works bids: Right-of-way supervisor Larry Brungard briefed the commission on two procurement actions for the 2025 chip-seal program. The public-works department had advertised two separate bids: one for CMA (chip matrix asphalt) material and one for chip-seal contract work. Bids received included Huber Sand at $156,825 for 7,650 tons of CMA material and another bid from Clot Sand Incorporated at $236,867.80 for the same quantity. For chip-seal work, B and H Paving submitted a bid of $892,819.56 to chip-seal about 45 miles of county roads. The commission accepted Huber Sand’s CMA bid and B and H Paving’s chip-seal bid. Brungard said the fiscal impact will draw $600,000 from the road-and-bridge budget and $449,644.56 from special highway reserves.

Staffing analysis contract: Interim county administrator Gary Meager reviewed a request-for-qualifications (RFQ) process that produced a single proposal from consulting firm Raftelis to perform a staffing analysis and organizational review. The review committee recommended accepting Raftelis’ proposal for $79,750, to be paid from the general fund, with the contract subject to county counselor review. Commissioners moved, seconded and approved the contract.

Why it matters: The actions keep infrastructure maintenance, economic-development incentives and county operations on schedule. The chip-seal contracts fund preservation work on about 45 miles of county roads; the juvenile-placement agreement ensures an updated out-of-county placement rate is in place if the regional facility is full; the MOU extension keeps an economic development project on track for tax-roll consideration; the Raftelis contract begins a review intended to inform staffing and budget decisions.

Details: The juvenile-placement rate was presented as $165 per day for contract counties; the county indicated it charges $250 per day for non-contracting counties. The chip‑seal package covers 45 miles and includes separate funding lines and reserves to preserve roads that missed planned mill-and-overlay work because of budget cuts.

All motions were made and carried by voice vote; individual roll-call tallies were not specified in the meeting record.