Commissioners adopt no‑through‑trucks ordinance and approve road and bridge contracts

Cass County Commissioners on Feb. 17 voted to adopt Ordinance 2026-04 restricting through truck traffic on short connectors near the state hospital and the quarry, and approved multiple road and inspection contracts tied to county road projects.

Chair introduced Ordinance 2026-04 and called on the presenter to describe the route and rationale. The presenter said trucks from the Heidelberg Quarry had been using County Road 200 South between Old 25 and 275 West and 275 West between 200 South and 225 South as a shortcut; the ordinance converts a previous temporary restriction into a permanent one until rescinded. The board moved to approve the ordinance (with a minor amendment to correct a misspelled name) and adopted it by voice vote.

On construction bids, staff reported three bids for the Community Crossings grant project on County Road 900 North (175 West to US 35) and recommended awarding the lowest alternate bid to Central Paving for $1,053,686.13; commissioners approved the award. The board also approved a construction inspection contract for the Bridge 103 project with Cross Road Engineers for $87,002.50, a figure staff described as roughly 8% of the total contract amount.

Commissioners approved an amendment to the Lochmuller inspection agreement to cover combined work that was not accounted for in the original single‑project contract. Staff requested an additional up to $72,080 for that amendment and said they expected the amendment would not hit the stated cap; the transcript’s reported not-to-exceed total for the amended contract was garbled in the meeting record and is therefore not stated here.

All road and inspection items were approved by voice votes. Commissioners said staff will proceed with contract execution and project oversight.

The ordinance and contract approvals complete the board’s actions on several grant-funded road projects listed on the meeting agenda.