The Dodge County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday approved agreements with the Nebraska Department of Transportation and VCS Fremont Property I in using State Economic Opportunity Program funds to finance transportation improvements in support of business.
The funds will be used to help finance transportation improvements, including the paving of 1,500 feet of N. Yager Road from County Road T north to the southeast corner of the business property for cold storage products.
The $350,000 of EOP funds will be allocated for the business’ share of the partnership it has with the county.
“We agreed to pick up 50 percent of the cost of the project,” said Bob Missel, board chairman. “In other words, instead of just paving a road, we felt like this was a good public, private partnership to enter and everyone wins. Part of the incentive funding on one of the packages that the department of transportation offers is some incentive funding for roads so they applied for that through Dodge County. The project was awarded $350,00 toward the building of the road which will go against their piece of the cost share.”
The board also approved a bid from engineering firm Burns & McDonnell to work on the Rawhide Creek Watershed Work Plan’s Environment Assessment.
Dodge County Emergency Management Director Thomas Smith said Burns & McDonnell was one of three companies to bid on the project. It was reviewed by the Joint Water Management Advisory Board.
“All were very qualified,” Smith said. “They understood the project and it came down to cost.”
Burns & McDonnell had the lowest bid at $367,150, beating the others by more than $280,000. Smith said the firm comes highly recommended. Missel agreed.
“I was part of this review team,” he said. “They are three really exceptional companies. They are all very capable of managing this task, but in the end — when you have that much separation of dollars — it made the choice fairly easy.”
The board also discussed the Elkhorn Township Drainage Improvement Project, but it was tabled.
“The committee felt we had to get a little better understanding on what their individual costs would be relative to the project,” Missel said.
Supervisor Greg Beam gave an update during the board of corrections portion of Wednesday’s meeting.
A meeting was conducted recently about renewing the county’s agreement with Saunders County to house prisoners there.
Beam said the agreement is set to end on July 1.
“There were no real changes as far as operations or anything. There was a lot of discussion about the history that we have with them and how long this has been going on … the changes that have taken place, issues that they have had,” he said. “They have initiated a lot of things to perpetuate the needs of housing our people over with the transport being the main issue.”
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