Franklin County OKs $81,500 from truck sale for miscellaneous road repairs

The Franklin County Commission on Aug. 6 authorized staff to spend up to $81,500 from proceeds of the sale of five county dump trucks for a slate of road repair and maintenance projects.

County staff said the funds — proceeds from the truck sales — would be used mainly for repair work rather than major improvements. “I think we would like to do, as Jeff said, the first two items, which that's all within my spending allowance,” a staff member said when presenting the list of projects and costs.

Staff described the highest-priority items as a roughly 600-foot, one-lane blade-patch on Eisenhower south of Seventh Street; approaches at the John Brown Bridge that the county hopes to complete before scheduled chip seal work; shoulder and base repairs on Tennessee Road near Penny’s Quarry; and multiple crack-seal locations on a roughly 5.3-mile stretch from Sand Creek to Montana continuing to Ohio. A contractor bid to crack-seal the longer stretch was described as $34,640, based on eight pallets of material priced at $4,330 per pallet. A staff estimate for one truck apron replacement was given at about $3,000. Staff also discussed renting or using a spreader/shoulder box for several locations if the county performed some work in-house.

Staff emphasized that some items could be done in-house and some would likely be contracted to a vendor identified in the packet (referred to in the meeting as “Kilo”). They said using the contractor for certain locations would produce a more finished result because of additional work such as tack oil, milling and machine mobilization. “So I think we're getting a better product for that area,” one staff speaker said about contractor work on the Eisenhower spot.

Commissioners discussed trade-offs between contracting out work and performing it with county crews, and whether to rent specialized equipment for longer repairs. They also noted coordination with the state where work touches state right-of-way. After discussion, a commissioner moved and another seconded a motion to allow staff to spend up to $81,500 on the identified miscellaneous repairs. The motion passed unanimously.

Votes at the Aug. 6 meeting recorded all commissioners voting in favor of the expenditure.

The presentation noted that using the $81,500 would bring the list of recommended projects close to $78,000 with one item not yet estimated, and that staff believed the funds could be responsibly spent on the listed repairs. Staff said the proposed work dovetails with the county’s upcoming chip-seal schedule and would extend pavement life in several locations if performed as recommended.

Commissioners gave staff authority to proceed; staff said they would coordinate closures, traffic control and state approvals where necessary and would mix contracted and in-house work to stay within the approved amount.

The commission returned to other agenda items once the motion passed.