Valley County awards West Roseberry paving contract, approves new road operations manager

Valley County commissioners voted Feb. 2 to award the West Roseberry paving contract to Valley Paving and Asphalt Inc. for $387,932 and approved creation of a road operations manager position to help manage a growing pipeline of grant-funded projects and outstanding development reviews.

The action came during a department update in which county road staff summarized an engineering review of the West Roseberry RFP and detailed a long list of awarded and pending road-and-bridge grants. "Valley Paving and Asphalt Inc. was the 2026 low bidder with a price of $387,932," an unidentified county road staff member said during the session. That staff member described Parametrix's comprehensive review of bids and recommended preconstruction coordination, additional scope clarification, third-party testing and county-led construction inspection prior to starting work.

Why it matters: county staff said the grants and projects moving through procurement represent a substantial workload for the road department. The presenter said the county has "almost 2 and a half million dollars worth of engineering work on the in the queue" and that those planning and design efforts would likely lead to "approximately $10 to $11,000,000 worth of construction work" over coming years. Commissioners said they support adding staff capacity to manage the work.

What the board approved: after a disclosure that a family member of one commissioner is among the bidders, a commissioner moved to award the West Roseberry project to Valley Paving and Asphalt and the board voted in favor. The staff presentation noted Granite Excavation failed to submit a required base-bid schedule for the 2025–26 completion option and could be deemed nonresponsive under the solicitation terms; Idaho Materials and Construction submitted a substantially higher bid of $901,500.

Staff cautioned that the original solicitation lacked some design details and that not all bidders had access to the full geotechnical report. To reduce risk, Parametrix recommended — and county staff supported — an engineering scope letter, a preconstruction coordination meeting, in-field engineering assistance during construction and third-party testing and inspection.

Staff update and workload: the presenter reviewed a tracking sheet of 26 road items (three already identified as full projects, 23 requiring planning or approval) and a list of specific grant awards and studies, including East Lake Fork Road, Lake Fork Creek bridge rehabilitation, Kinley Creek rehabilitation and other culvert and guardrail projects. Staff said some grant agreements are fully executed while others remain in paperwork or delayed by federal funding timing. The presenter said the county will need to triage work into what can be done in-house and what must be subcontracted, and recommended an RFQ for geotechnical spot evaluations to support prioritization.

Operations manager position: to address the capacity gap, staff proposed hiring an operations manager focused on construction management, grant administration and crew oversight. A commissioner moved to approve the position, the motion was seconded and commissioners voted "Aye." Commissioners and staff noted that a formal budget reopen will be required and that staff will present a detailed list of requested items and costs for fiscal-year 2026 budget adjustments.

Administrative items and next steps: staff confirmed a previously negotiated road mitigation agreement for Perpetua is ready for signatures following prosecuting-attorney edits and described logistics to obtain an absent commissioner's signature. Staff said Parametrix will continue to assist with engineering tasks and that preconstruction work should clarify quantities and scope before construction begins.

The board concluded the morning session after the agenda items were finished.