County Bridge Repairs To Exceed $200,000

The Antelope County Board of Supervisors meeting was a little louder than normal on Tuesday morning.
 
Road Engineer Brian McDonald informed the board that repairing three bridges will be around $64,000 more than first anticipated. The project was first estimated at around $168,000, but now will be $202,410.86.
 
Two of the bridges were damaged and one was destroyed when Invenergy was constructing the wind towers, according to Antelope County Highway Superintendent Brian McDonald.
 
Dean Smith told supervisors he was concerned as to if Invenergy was going to pay for the extra costs since they damaged the bridges.
 
“Why should they not have to pay the full extent of the damages that they have caused to the county?” Smith said.
 
McDonald then explained that the $64,000 that wasn’t anticipated at first is to upgrade the damaged bridges to new bridges.
 
“We requested the insurance money, we requested a repair number for the first bridge, we requested a complete replacement of the second bridge, and the damage that was done to the third bridge," he said.
 
The board agreed with him in unison when McDonald said that the board decided to upgrade the damaged bridges to new bridges, at the county's expense.
 
“That is the way that I explained it to the board. They knew when we originally requested that, that it was the money they were going to get for damages. The addition to the improvements beyond what a repair would be, these are all three new constructions now," he said.
 
Supervisor Greg Koinzen asked the board if there was anyone who didn’t understand the motion that was passed. Again, the board was in unison with understanding their previous decision.
 
Earlier in the meeting, Veteran Services Officer Ron Marshall and multiple members of the Veteran Services Committee addressed the board about Marshall’s upcoming retirement in June of 2017.
 
It was previously discussed to look into the idea of combining with another county and the Officer provides services for both counties. 
 
It was the Veteran Services Committee recommended that the officer only cover one county to provide the best service. It was also recommended to the board that Marshall receive an extra month's pay to help the new officer get on his or her feet.
 
In the end, the board reassured the committee that no matter the decision, it would benefit the veterans of Antelope County.
 
Zoning administrator Liz Doerr gave her monthly report in which she told the board that the peer review of Hankard Environment was completed. Rand Acoustics released that they found errors in the initial study. Doerr recommended waiting until there was a response from Hankard Environment in December to make a decision.
 
Antelope County Clerk Lisa Payne reminded the board that the Fair Labor Standards Act would take effect in December. This law requires salaried employees who make less than $47,500 a year to be paid hourly instead, thus insuring they get paid for overtime.
 
Antelope County has only a few employees who fall under that law. The subject will be put on the agenda for the meeting next week.

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