Courthouse roof resolution fails; commissioners postpone roofing project to April

The Benton County Commission failed to approve funding for an immediate courthouse roof upgrade on March 19, then agreed to postpone the matter until April. On a roll-call vote on Resolution 0319-21 — a proposal to appropriate $54,950 from the Litigation Tax Reserve Account for courthouse roof upgrades — the commission recorded 5 Ayes, 7 Nays and 4 Passes, and the motion failed.

The resolution listed a specific budget transfer to pay for roof work. After the roll-call failure, Commissioner Darryl Hicks moved to accept a low bid from Humble Builders (listed in the record as Ashley Cook) for $49,900, proposing to use the Litigation fund to cover the cost; Hicks later withdrew that motion. Commissioner Dayna Ferguson then moved, and Commissioner Sonny Hall seconded, to postpone the roofing project until the commission’s April 2018 meeting. That postponement was approved on a roll-call vote with all present voting Aye.

County records show the litigation reserve account was cited as the funding source in the resolution language. Commissioners who voted against the resolution during the recorded roll call were not quoted in the record explaining their votes; the minutes record only the tally (5 Ayes, 7 Nays, 4 Passes). The minutes also record that a separate motion to accept the $49,900 Humble Builders bid was made and then withdrawn before the postponement motion succeeded.

The commission did not set a new project timeline in the minutes; the postponement directs the item to the April meeting for further consideration. The minutes do not record any additional vendor bids or an updated scope of repairs beyond the bid amount noted for Humble Builders.

The item will return to the commission’s agenda in April for further discussion and possible action.