The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Tuesday), approved one of two matters to come before them. The Board approved a GIS (Geographic Information Systems) agreement with Schneider Geospatial, for additional, as needed services. The company was already under contract for other GIS services. The Board spent a considerable amount of time discussing proposals from Schneider and Midland GIS Services, before ultimately relying on the wishes of those in the courthouse, who use those services the most, including the County Assessor and Treasurer.

Cass County Board of Supervisors mtg 8-6-19

The Board tabled action on a request for funding, with regard to a road project at Cold Springs State Park, near Lewis. Conservation Director Micah Lee and the Conservation Board requested the 30-year old road inside the park to be asphalted with a two-inch deep overlay, as a tag-on to work planned for the Lewis Road, that Henningsen Construction will be working on. Micah Lee said the project was estimated to cost $109,000. He said after speaking with Cass County Engineer Charles Bechtold, the formal bid process was not needed, but they would get a couple of more quotes.

He said a pre-construction meeting would likely take place by the 14th and the final bid quotes should be in by the 16th. Those numbers would be available for the Board’s meeting on August 20th. Board member John Hartkopf questioned the legality of how bids are obtained, because it may not be classified as “Maintenance.” Instead, it may be “rebuilding.” He said case law shows it should go through a bid-letting process, because it could be challenged in court. Hartkopf said he’s all for using local contractors (Such as Henningsen’s), but he’s also trying to protect the interests of not only the County, but the contractors themselves.

The bottom line, he said is that the project has to be bid, if it’s not maintenance. The discussion then turned to whether or not the road is an “Ancillary” function of the State and not the County. In the end, the Board suggested Lee try and divide-up the project to include just the inside camping area, for now, but to go ahead and get the quotes as planned.If one portion of the project is taken out of the equation, that would drop the cost down to about $93,000, with the idea being to hold-off on the remaining section of road (which is not as bad as the camping area road), to be worked on at a later date.

Board Chair Steve Baier summed-up the Board’s thoughts on the project. He said the consensus is that it is a worthy project, but they want to make sure it’s done above the table and legal.