Commissioners approve Phend and Brown Bid for 7th and 12th Road paving, but funding hurdle remains

The Marshall County Commissioners have unanimously approved the low bid of Phend and Brown for fall paving projects on 7th Road and 12B Road, but the projects still face a funding challenge as the highway superintendent must now seek additional dollars from the County Council.

The commissioners opened bids on August 17 for the additional paving work. At last Monday's meeting, the highway superintendent recommended accepting Phend and Brown's low bid of $532,951.80, which covers two project segments:

• 7th Road from Fir Road to State Road 331 — $243,259.80
• 12B Road from U.S. 30 to the County Line — $289,332

Superintendent Peters was not present at the meeting and will need to approach the County Council to secure the additional funding needed to move the projects forward.

Commissioner President Stan Klotz acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the council's willingness to fund the work. "There's been some question about what the council wants to fund and doesn't want to fund," Klotz said. "If we don't approve the bid pending funding, they are dead in the water."

Commissioner Adam Faulstich made the motion to approve the low bid of Phend and Brown for the 7th and 12th Road paving, and Commissioner Jesse Bohannon seconded the motion. It passed unanimously.

The approval comes amid pushback from County Council President Tim Harman, who voiced strong concerns during the county's budget hearing on August 10. Harman questioned whether the two rural roads — which he says see little traffic and have few homes along them — warrant the expenditure.

"I think paving 7th Road and 12th Road, which has hardly any houses and hardly any traffic, with that kind of money isn't a good decision," Harman said. "I think the higher-traffic roads with higher populations of residences on roads should get that money."

Harman acknowledged that 12th Road does need to be fixed but disputed the overall price tag. "I do believe that 12th Road needs to be fixed. I just don't agree with spending $650,000 to fix these two roads," he said.

To support his argument, Harman shared his own informal traffic counts. On 7th Road between State Road 331 and Fir Road, he counted just 18 cars between 5:08 and 6:08 p.m. — a stretch with only 8 houses.

By contrast, Harman pointed to 3rd Road as a higher-priority candidate. In a two-hour count, he tallied 196 cars plus 4 bicycles. He noted that 3rd Road, wrapping around to 2C Road, has approximately 50 houses — far more than the stretch of 7th Road in question. "Shouldn't we be paying high dollar for high-traffic roads?" Harman asked.

Harman also proposed an alternative approach for 12th Road, suggesting the county could cold-pave the road at roughly $70,000 rather than hiring a contractor to apply hot mix — an option he said would be triple the cost.

"12 Road needs to be fixed, but I would rather cold-pave it at $70,000 than use hot mix and a contractor, which would be triple the cost," Harman said.

With the commissioners' unanimous approval in hand, the fate of the 7th and 12th Road paving projects now rests with the County Council, which will need to decide whether to appropriate the additional funds Superintendent Peters requests — or redirect the money toward higher-traffic roads as Harman has advocated.