Beaufort County transportation committee approves Year 9 resurfacing contracts and hires ICE for inspection

The Beaufort County Transportation Committee on Feb. 25 approved three Year 9 resurfacing contracts for county roads and separately approved a construction‑inspection contract with ICE.

The committee called a special meeting after a bidder contended it qualified for a local‑contractor 5% bid reduction, delaying award of the resurfacing work. "It was very tacky," the Chair said of the dispute while explaining why the committee met on short notice. County staff presented the bid totals for the Year 9 work and said prompt action was required so state‑funded work could proceed by the July 1 deadline.

Rusty, a county staff member presenting the bids, read the figures aloud: he said the 500–2,000 average daily traffic (ADT) roads bid came in at $605,738.50, and he identified a Beaufort County Year 9 roads subtotal of $1,977,001.00. Rusty also reported a CEI total of $146,375 for Year 9 inspection services to cover resurfacing, rejuvenator and microsurfacing work. The staff presentation included a larger "grand total" reading ($33,487,812.87); the committee did not finalize contingency figures during the special meeting.

Members asked for clarification before voting. One committee member sought to confirm that the vote was a straightforward yes‑or‑no on the contracts as presented and not a reopening of the local‑vendor determination; the Chair confirmed the committee was voting on the contract awards and associated dollar amounts.

A motion to approve the three resurfacing contracts was made and seconded and then brought to roll call. The transcript records assent without recorded objections for the CEI contract in the meeting (the Chair stated, "Hearing no objections, the CEI contract with ICE is approved"). Because the transcript audio and speaker labels are inconsistent at points, the meeting record provided here does not attempt to assign individual roll‑call votes to named members beyond what was audibly clear in the record.

The Chair said county council and public facilities reviews are still required and that staff will present the information again at the committee's next regular meeting for point‑of‑information review. The committee adjourned after approving the CEI contract and moving forward with the resurfacing awards.

What happens next: the contracts will proceed to the County Council and public‑facilities review steps required by county procedure; staff noted the time constraint imposed by the July 1 state work deadline.