After years of negotiations and planning on a project to extend Whitehall city sewer to the Sugar Beet Row area, the Jefferson County Commission opened construction bids January 31. Nine bids were received, ranging from $216,825 to $356,785. All exceeded the projected budget for the project, so officials from all of the funding sources agreed to hold a teleconference to sort out how to proceed. After nearly an hour of discussion, representatives of the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Rural Development, the county commission and Great West Engineering agreed to trim the budget by removing costs for land acquisition, right of way acquisition and other items deemed unnecessary. A revised budget will be prepared and presented before the scheduled February 7 bid award, the group decided. The commission also opened bids for the “Jefferson Canal Blowout Stabilization” project in southern Jefferson County. Those bids came from ten firms and ranged from $31,175 to $360,000. The commission agreed to have its consulting engineers review the bids and report back.
