07/24/12 A special meeting of the Marshall County Drainage Board on Friday was called to discuss the Yellow River stablization project. The Drainage Board rejected the sole bid with 3 members voting to redect the bid and two members being absent. Voting “No” were Jack Roose, Daniel Vories and Kevin Overmyer. Drainage Board member Greg Compton and Randy Glingle were not in attendance.
One bid came in on the project by HRP Construction of South Bend. They bid the project two ways, one by building the river bank’s east side by entering through the west side and working in the river for a bid total of $1,189,439.00. The other bid involved buying the property of Anthony Ross, demolishing the home and building the east bank from the east side at a bid total of $990,864.00 which proved to be the cheapest avenue.
The Drainage Board took the recommendation from RW Armstrong, the engineering firm to reject the bid on the project.
Overmeyer asked why there was only one bid to which a representative from RW Armstrong stated that the county’s stipulation that the bidders would have to buy the Ross property while doing the project would not be an added value to doing the project.
Mr. Ross asked the Drainage Board for a more realistic timeline considering his current situation with the river bank continuing to erode into the river, devaluing his property as it has for the past five years, plus, limiting his family’s enjoyment of their entire property.
After further discussion, the drainage board heard ideas ranging from seeking state assistance through the Kankankee River Basin Commission (state), to once again following up with FEMA since the property is now in the new flood plain maps. Timeline for these possible solutions could possibly take as long as two or more years to get started.
