CHAPTER 6
Maintenance projects are not subject to this bidding requirement. County road agencies should consider the following tasks when putting together a competitive bid for a township: § Who pays for the additional project administration costs? (i.e. design, project bid proposal, bid advertising, construction administration, project inspection, material testing, contractor claims and contract closeout. § Should the project be handled as a permit to work in the right-of-way, where the township retains an engineering firm to p erform the engineering, design, administrative material testing, inspection of the project and hire a contractor? Exemptions from Competitive Bidding. (PA 182, 2015) A county road agency may be exempt from this law if it determines it is in the county’s best interest to not require competitive bidding for a project. A CRC shall report these findings before work commences in writing to the county board of commissioners. CRA has further details on township competitive bidding in CRA Guidance Document 004 and at tinyurl.com/ BiddingRequirements.
Changing the Status of Roads CRC-township relations may also be stressed from time to time over issues relating to the status of roads. For example, a CRC may have designated certain roads as seasonal roads. These are roads that have virtually no year-around residents on adjacent land, and usually lead to lakes, cottages, hunting property or other fair weather land uses. The law permits a CRC to issue a public notice and hold a public hearing to determine if any adjacent landowner resides on the property or uses the road between November and April. A CRC may not designate a road as a seasonal road if anyone occupies adjacent property as a permanent residence. Although a CRC is required to post a notice in the CRC office showing the designated 76
Michigan County Road Commissioners Handbook