Newton County Supervisors received an unpleasant surprise Tuesday as they opened bids for repair of a bridge on Newton-Calhoun Road, which were well under the allotted amount the county was given to spend.
In January, Newton County was awarded $431,000 to repair the Newton-Calhoun bridge as part of the $250 million Emergency Road and Bridge Fund approved by the Legislature in a special session in August. However, the lowest and best bid received for the project, from Joe MaGee Construction, was only $216,306.
After reviewing the bid, County Engineer Duane Stanford said he couldn’t find anything wrong with the bid that would explain the lower-than-expected price. The bid includes removing the deck, driving steel pylons, putting on new caps and replacing the bridge deck, which matches the work outlined in the specifications.
Under normal circumstances, the board would be pleased to have a project come in at half price, but the nature of the funds may mean they’re leaving money on the table.
Emergency Road and Bridge Funds have different rules than the State Aid funds the county usually gets to repair roads and bridges, Stanford said. It can’t be saved for another project.
“That memorandum of understanding you all signed, they say you have to spend the money on this one project,” he told the board.
If the board is required to spend the money on only this one bridge, perhaps there’s more work the board could add to the project, Supervisor Joe Alexander said.
“If this is the only bridge this can be used on, we want new whatever we can get new for $431,000,” he said.
However, Stanford said, it doesn’t appear the county can amend the specifications after the bidding process like it can with projects using State Aid funds. The board may be stuck losing half its money.
“You can amend State Aid contracts, but the is money is State Aid and MDOT (Mississippi Department of Transportation),” he said.
One of the issues with the ERBF is that its brand new, Stanford said. In November, Newton County, along with other counties, struggled to make sense of the application process, and now the county will have to figure out what can and cannot be done with the funds.
“This is all new,” he said.
In fact, Stanford said, Newton County is the first county to open bids. The board is in uncharted territory, he said.
Although unhappy at possibly leaving over $200,000 of state money unspent, the board voted to accept the bid from Joe MaGee Construction. As more counties accept bids and the rules get ironed out, the board will look to see if there is any way the project could be expanded or improved to use more of the funds.
