By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

Road and Bridge Superintendent Randy Crawford brought two options for summer work to Marion County Commission on Tuesday.

Option one is for chip seals for seven miles of Quail Creek Road, from 290th to 360th, one half mile of Nighthawk Road west of Peabody, and for 30th Road between Old Mill Road and the Harvey County line. All of that totals $306,504 in estimated cost. Crawford also included cold mix cost for blade patching, including 340th Road for an additional $525,000. The total for option one is $831,504.

Option one was way cheaper than option two. Option two was a double chip seal for nine miles of Remington Road, from U.S. 56 to 290th Road. With the 7,000 tons of cold mix for blade patching included, the total for option two was $1,025,000.

The commission went with the first option.

“We can’t pay for option two,” Commission Chairman Randy Dalke said.

This reality relates to a Crawford request in the meeting. He asked if the county would consider hiring a part-time person to apply for grants for road projects. He said Remington Road, with a high amount of traffic and hazardous road condition, would be a candidate to receive grant money from either the Kansas Department of Transportation or the federal government.

“Somewhere in the state of Kansas, there has to be money available for that road,” Commissioner Dan Holub said.

The request was not approved but it was not denied either. Commissioners asked Crawford to find out if any current county employees could help with the pursuit of grants.

Crawford requested part-time help two more times at the meeting. The first was for the normal summer help for the Road and Bridge Department, five or six high school or college students, a request that was approved.

Crawford also asked for a part-time employee to pick up trash along roadways in Marion County. This request was denied.

Another project for Road and Bridge could be the demolition of the old jail building. Commissioners decided Tuesday to demolish the building all the way down to the basement. The Road and Bridge Department demolished a building as a part of the building of the new jail. Dallke said the amount of steel in the jail building might make the task impossible for Road and Bridge.

Crawford was also worried about utilities hooked to the building but said he would check out the project and get back to commissioners.

Road and Bridge Supervisor Jesse Hamm spoke to commissioners about replacing the bridge on 40th Road between Mustang and Nighthawk Roads. He said replacing the bridge with fresh I beams or H beams, possible at $7,500, would possible be cheaper than sheeting over the rotten and rusted out bridge. The cost for sheet pile is $5,968 not including labor and channel iron.