September 5, 2012
Alva Review-Courier/Newsgram
Page 34
Block grant, belly dump trailer bids top Alfalfa commissioners’ meeting By Roger McKenzie Contractors for the Community Development Block Grant to improve accessibility at the Alfalfa County Courthouse have been hard to find. Twice bids have been advertized; and twice none have been received. That allows the county to go shopping on its own for contractors. Two have been identified and the county commissioners at their regular meeting on Monday voted to allow Alfalfa County Commissioner Doug Murrow and Mareta Woodward of the Northern Oklahoma Development Authority to contact and discuss with them their willingness to do the work. NODA has helped secure the grant and is administering it. Mitch Reed, who owns a construction company in Kiowa, has been identified as interested in repaving the sidewalks in front of the courthouse and in renovating the bathrooms to make them more handicapped friendly.
John Waller, of Waller Glass in Enid, will be approached about replacing some entrance doors with automatically opening doors. One item concerning the renovation could stir up some controversy. It was mentioned at Monday’s meeting that repaving the front sidewalks might require the removal of the large Ponderosa pine tree in front of the courthouse. That tree has been the subject of previous battles over its existence. It is officially the second largest Ponderosa Pine tree of the scopulum variety in the state. Belly dump trailer bids Commissioners opened two bids for a belly dump trailer. The low bid of $37,150 was accepted from Irwin Trailer Company of Meeker. The bid was $50 lower than one from Southwest Trailers of Oklahoma City and included an electrically controlled tarp, which the Southwest bid did not. Road Crossing permits Twenty-one road crossing permits were approved Monday. The fees totaled $20,750. District 1, as it usually does, had the most permit requests (15) and received most of the fees ($17,750). District 2 only had one permit ($500 fee), while District 3 had five permits ($2,500 in fees). Action on internet Internet service at the courthouse has been problematic recently due to some equipment needs. As with the grant mentioned above, getting people to fix the problem has been difficult. According to the county, AT&T, the service provider, has been reluctant to do the work until a billing problem has been resolved. At Monday’s meeting, Commissioner
Murrow said he had talked to a person from Piedmont who can provide the equipment needed and install it throughout the courthouse for between $5,000 and $6,000. The commissioners agreed to hire the Piedmont man and to seek the advice of the district attorney concerning the billing question. Courthouse maintenance vehicle Commissioner’s also agreed that a vehicle for courthouse use was needed. They gave Commissioner Murrow authority to search for, and secure, a used pickup truck for less than $10,000 for that purpose. The truck would be used to pick up maintenance and other supplies needed by the county. It would be used for local trips, with occasional trips as far as Enid and Alva. Other business In other business, the commissioners: • appointed LaToya Hunter as a receiving agent for District 3. • signed transfer forms for the use of five steel beams being recycled from the rebuilding of the Oklahoma City crosstown I-40 expressway. The beams, the first of many more that will be utilized in the area, will help build a District 2 bridge one and a half miles south of Carmen. • accepted three more six month bids — this time for liquid road oils and emulsions. • officially signed a mineral lease agreed to at a previous meeting. The lease with Sandridge is for county owned property known as Fellers Farm. It is for approximately three acres that the District 1 shop sits on. • approved minutes of the previous commissioners’ meeting, maintenance and operations purchase orders, and blanket purchase orders.