Fergus County amends agenda, opens sealed bids for weed‑spraying contracts

Fergus County commissioners on an amended agenda opened sealed bids for a county weed‑spraying contract and reviewed three proposals from firms that offered different pricing and scopes.

Commissioners added the bid opening to the agenda at the start of the meeting after Speaker 3 moved to include the item. The board heard presentations from Ferris Custom Spray (contact listed as Sean), Taylor Woods and Brady Cannon of Integrated Resource Management (IRM). Speaker 1 said the bids had been publicly noticed though the item was not on the originally posted agenda.

The Ferris Custom Spray submission included proof of liability insurance and licensing, described equipment and listed an estimated 800–1,000 hours for the project, with an hourly/unit rate noted in the bid as “$200 a unit” and an estimated total between $160,000 and $200,000. Taylor Woods supplied a per‑mile price and said the total mileage in the bid package amounted to 1,275 county road miles; Woods offered $94.50 per mile for the full project and reduced per‑mile pricing if awarded by region (East $85.25; South $78.79). Brady Cannon’s IRM bid listed a $175,000 total for right‑of‑way spraying and included proposed payment terms; county staff said IRM had provided an insurance notice but some licensing documents remained pending.

Commissioners and staff flagged discrepancies in the mileage figures used to compare bids. One internal document listed 1,700 county miles while staff compiled 1,275 miles from available records. "We're not gonna make a decision today off the dollar amount," Speaker 1 said, emphasizing that interviews would be used "to make sure we're comparing apples to apples" and to assess each bidder’s capacity.

A commissioner also noted a state business‑registration issue flagged for IRM and said the county would verify licensing and active status before any award. No contract award was made at the meeting; commissioners said they would follow up with bidder interviews and return to the topic after staff verification and candidate interviews.

The county additionally posted job openings tied to the work: a full‑time weed coordinator position (with a discussion about whether a quarter‑time coordinator may be hired), seasonal weed sprayer positions and one application had been received for the coordinator role. Staff said hiring and bidder interviews would be scheduled the following week so work could proceed this summer.

Next steps: commissioners will verify bidders’ licensing and insurance, schedule interviews with applicants and re‑consider contract awards after those checks. The meeting record shows bids were taken under advisement but no award or formal direction to staff was adopted.