Boring vs. paving

More discussions between the Foster County Commission and Garrison Diversion's Kip Kovar about the pipeline project were on the agenda for the commission meeting last week.

During the meeting held on Tuesday, June 18, Kovar presented a revised plan to auditor Ellen Roundy, state's attorney Kara Brinster and the board.

Brinster said she will review it next week.

The board talked about having a contingency plan for long-term road maintenance or future road maintenance in the event a section of road fails in the future, such as a trench settlement that would leave a dip on an asphalt road.

Commission president David Utke informed the board and Kovar that he had received several calls from residents saying they do not want their roads cut, but would rather the pipeline be bored underneath the paved roads. The board then discussed boring vs. cutting the roads.

Boring underneath paved roads would cost Garrison Diversion $1-2 million for each road depending on the length of the area.

During the discussion commissioner Pat Copenhaver called county engineer Mike Rivinius of Wold Engineering for his opinion.

Rivinius, who was at the meeting, but left, said he recommended boring underneath the paved roads over cutting the roads.

Kovar asked if he could talk to Rivinius directly and requested his phone number to iron out some of the board's concerns.

In other business:

• The board opened bids for the reclamation of the Club Hall road near Kensal.

There were two options available, and Border States Paving was the lowest bidder for both. Option #1 included the bidding contractor doing all of the work on the project, for which Border States bid $460,291.71. Option #2 included the county doing some blading during the project, and the low bid from Border States for that option totaled $428,875.71.

Discussion was held about the feasibility of completing the project this year.

Roundy informed the board that next year they would have access to the Prairie Dog and Legacy funds.

The board tabled the discussion until the next commission meeting.

• While not at the meeting, Chris Thomas of EAPC Architects and Engineers emailed an update on the courthouse basement project.

Thomas said installation of new water lines has started and the new gas line has been marked and ready for installation.

The electrician is trimming out devices and Dakota Central will be on site to do the final trim-out of IT devices.

The electrical gear is still not on site, but the electrician will provide temporary power for phase #1.

The carpet installation in the social services offices is complete and the baseboard installation is ongoing as well as cabinet installation.

Thomas said the counter tops are on site and the transaction counter in the social services office is installed.

Finally, Thomas said the exterior door, plumbing fixtures and partitions should be installed in the next few days.

The tentative move for social services is June 24.

• In the road department update it was stated that the county sold the 1983 IH with Detroit for $10,750 and the 1996 IH in Glenfield for $8,400 at Orr Auctions.