Douglas County Road and Bridge Subcommittee meeting held March 11
By Jim Allen
The Douglas County Road and Bridge Subcommittee met at conference room at 200 S. Prairie Street at 9:00 a.m. on March 11, 2020. Due to the number of attendees, after opening the meeting and taking roll call, the meeting was moved to the conference room at the maintenance shed. Committee members present were Chairman Don Munson, Dick Hein and Phil Morris, who was sitting in for Tom Glenn who was not able to attend.
The first item on the agenda was an update on Cronus Chemicals. Although time has passed since the news of Cronus was first announced, much work has been done for this project and much more is ongoing. County engineer Jim Crane is continuing to work with IDOT on the scheduling of the funding for the needed roadwork to support the project. On July 15, 2015, the county entered into a Local Agency Agreement for state participation for construction of CR 750 E and 1050 N in support of the Cronus infrastructure improvements. The agreement was executed by the Illinois Department of Transportation on August 28, 2015 in the amount of $5,688,200.00 of state funds.
The agreement was valid for 5 years form the date of execution. Due to delays, IDOT requested that the County board revise the agreement to be extended to August 24, 2024. The committee approved the request.
In conjunction with the agreement cited above, an agreement with IDOT for $770,070.00 was approved on February 15, 2015 for preliminary engineering services required for the Cronus infrastructure. On October 4, 2018, the County Board executed “Supplement #1 Preliminary Engineering Services with Chastain and Associates for an additional fee of $503,500.00. this is to cover additional engineering services required by IDOT. The new upper limit of the engineering agreement is $1,273,570.00. This amendment was approved by the committee.
Bids for the Mt. Gilead Bridge over the Scattering Fork were received and the low bid by
Depew and Owen Builders was accepted. The bid for the work was $649,048 and was almost $100,000 lower than the next lowest bidder. All county bidders must be prequalified. There is no start date at this time.
Jim Crane has been in talks with EDPR regarding the reconstruction of roads in the footprint of the Industrial Wind Turbine Complex in Newman and Murdock Townships.
The last item on the agenda concerned the renewal of Jim Crane’s contract with the County. The current contract ends on September 31, 2020. Chairman Munson will be working on this matter in the coming months.
With no other business, the meeting was adjourned.