(BEDFORD) – Lawrence County Highway Superintendent David Holmes reported that paving of county roadways is complete.
“This is the last week for us to be laying asphalt, we will be using cold mix now,” says Holmes. “We will be doing some crack sealing and will be replacing some pipes before long.”
Holmes told the commissioners he has submitted the contracts for the Community Crossing Grant funding.
In October, Gov. Eric Holcomb and Indiana Department of Transportation announced a total of $99.2 million will be shared by 229 Indiana cities, towns, and counties in state matching funds for local road projects through the Next Level Roads: Community Crossings Initiative. Lawrence County received $1,000,000.
Commissioner Rodney Fish, who recently attended the Indiana Association of County Commissioners meeting, shared that they “will see somewhat less in the coming years. I appreciate what we have received in the last two years. We got a considerable increase and were able to complete several projects we wouldn’t have been able to do.”
Holmes says this year 40 miles of county roads were paved and 53 miles were chipped and sealed.
“This is more than we have ever done in any given year,” Holmes added.
Due to the high quantity of applications, the ability to receive money for projects is competitive.
There is an estimated $100 million available for communities that apply starting January 2020.
In other business:
The commissioners approved and signed a contract for the Jan. 1, 2020 commercial insurance package renewal.
Miles Parker of Parker Insurance says there was only a slight increase from last year but the figure was within the budget.
The commissioners signed a service contract between the county and Purdue Extension. The contract was the same annual agreement as last year.
The commissioners signed a Title 4-D contract which is a research tool for the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office. The service costs $292 a month and will be paid through the Child Support fund.
Bridge crews are performing routine maintenance work on area bridges.
Work on Bridge 150 on Mill Creek Road is on schedule and crews have taken out the abutments on Bridge 121 on Williams Silverville Road over Indiana Creek.
Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Major Gregg Taylor reported there were 154 inmates housed in the jail as of this morning, of those 124 were males, 30 were females and one person was a Department of Correction hold.
Lawrence County Emergency Management Director Valerie Luchauer reported things were winding down for 2019. She will be doing an introduction to the command system for the Health Services class at the Career Center at BNL tomorrow.
