BROKEN BOW – The Custer County Board of Supervisors held its last meeting of the month on Tuesday at the Custer County Courthouse; all members were present.
In the ongoing cellphone and hardware discussion with the Highway Department, two options were presented: a no-contract agreement with FirstNet, and a no-contract agreement with Verizon. After a discussion that included comparing countywide cellular dead spots and price per line, the board and Highway Department ultimately agreed to move forward with FirstNet, with setup expected to start within a week.
The Highway Department also heard bids for 4 integral pieces for its upcoming road maintenance season: asphalt, culverts, grader and drag blades, and gravel.
The bid for 370 blades, a mix of both grader and drag, went to Barco Municipal Products of Ottawa, Kansas for a price tag of $60,206.60 and a 5 to 6-week turnaround. The bids for asphalt were split: Jebro, Inc. of Sioux City, Iowa, and Asphalt and Fuel Supply of Tulsa, Oklahoma will provide the necessary supplies for the Highway Department this season. All eleven bids for gravel and culverts were referred to the Highway Department for review, with final decisions anticipated by the first meeting in April.
The board reviewed a possible design of the courthouse steps in hopes that the project will move forward this summer; the blueprint, designed by JEO Consulting, comes as a solution to the previous problem of bidding out both the design and build of the project, which last year received no bids. The board hopes that with a plan in hand, bids will be received by JEO on May 11, and delivered to the board for review at its mid-May meeting.
Elaine Menzel, a representative of the National Association of Counties (NACO), provided the board with updates from her organization; Menzel says that NACo has plans to expand its western presence by breaking ground on an Ogallala office on June 24, with plans to host events there by 2024.
The supervisors passed Resolution #9-2023 unanimously, which approved additional securities for First National Bank of Sargent in the form of a federal home loan bank bond to mature in September of 2023 valued at $420,000.
The board decided to table the issue of whether to update, repair, sell, or trade its road reclaimer for the time being, as too many variables regarding the machine, its parts, and the market are unknown.
An application to cross the county right of way for Custer Public Power District was approved; CPPD will be installing a new, 3-phase underground power line to provide service for Myers Construction, and will occupy approximately 2,650 feet along the west side of Ryno Road.
No bids were received for the county’s upcoming budget preparation; the search remains open and ongoing.
The meeting adjourned at 12:02 p.m.
