Rainfall closes roads in the county

Over the weekend, rain fell heavily throughout Adams County.

During the regular meeting of the Adams County Commissioners, which was held on Tuesday due to the Monday holiday, Public Works Director Todd O’Brien gave his report on the rain’s effect throughout the county.

He reported several of the county’s gravel roads had been closed over the weekend because of how saturated they had become. Crews were out on Monday checking the roads for damage.

As of Tuesday O’Brien said many of the roads would remain closed for a couple of weeks to allow crews to repair damage to them or to prevent additional damage from occurring.

The majority of the damaged roads are north of I-90, but both the Lind and Ritzville maintenance areas had crews working on gravel roads affected.

O’Brien also requested permission for his department to secure bids and quotes for road maintenance materials for the 2015 maintenance season. The commissioners approved the request unanimously.

The next issue brought before the commissioners was the compliance update proposal for ADA compliance on facilities.

In order to accept federal funding, the county needs to identify areas where their facilities are no up to ADA code. The plan does not force the county to address them immediately, but shows the county is aware of problems and has a plan to correct them.

Director O’Brien asked the commissioners how the county wished to proceed with the report.

Commissioner John Marshall said he thought O’Brien had stated he could handle it in house.

“I can handle the roads <and> public works portion of it in house,” O’Brien explained.

The problem, O’Brien went on, is that he is not familiar with ADA accessibility requirements and remedies for inside buildings or how a historical building is affected by the ADA.

The commissioners agreed that Public Works should do as much as possible in house without bringing in a consultant.

“We don’t know the standards off the top of our heads, an architect would,” O’Brien said.

Another problem O’Brien pointed out is the county has to generate a self-evaluation summary, which includes methods for correction, costs and an improvement schedule.

“We can come up with the schedule, based on the cost but we don’t know the methods of correction,” he explained.

Commissioner Jeff Stevens was concerned about the cost to the county of having someone inspect all of the county buildings, particularly at the price that had been estimated by Public Works.

“I’m really struggling with spending $50,000 on coming up with a report,” Steven said.

Later in the meeting the commissioners asked if DOH Associates, the architectural firm handling the courthouse elevator and third floor restrooms project had been consulted.

The commissioners requested for O’Brien to talk with DOH Associates because they are familiar with many of the county buildings, which may help keep the cost of the evaluation low.

The next matter brought before the commissioners dealt with managing the surplus list for the county.

The list included old printers, non-functioning electronics and old camcorders.

The items have been sitting in a back office for years. The commissioners voted to approve Public Works to junk the items presented.

With the bid openings for the courthouse elevator modernization and third floor bathrooms occurring last week, O’Brien presented the commissioners with the recommendations for award. The commissioners approved the recommendations, with the elevator project award going to Pro Mechanical Services, Inc. with a bid of $145,948 and the bathrooms project was awarded to Banlin Construction who submitted a bid of $69,019.

At the conclusion of the meeting County Engineer Scott Yaeger informed the commissioners the notice for the public hearing for the amendment to the six-year transportation improvement plan has gone out.

The meeting is scheduled for Feb. 2 at 10 a.m.

The amendment concerns adding the Lee Road safety project and data analysis to the list of projects being completed this year after grant funding was secured for the projects.

The commissioners also discussed the development of courthouse evacuation protocol after the incident last Wednesday.

They also discussed the maintenance being completed on Steele Road from Hatton Road to Bench Road.