OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Supervisors have hard cost figures for upgrading Oktoc Road, but they aren’t quite ready to accept them.
District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams, whose district includes the project area, moved Tuesday to table discussion on accepting a bid to resurface 10.5 miles of Oktoc Road until he had more time to study the numbers.
“The figures were verbalized at the meeting, but I haven’t seen them in writing,” Williams told The Dispatch after the meeting.
County Engineer Clyde Pritchard told supervisors during the board’s meeting Tuesday that Falcon Contracting submitted the lowest of four bids on the project, coming in at $3,490.829.50 — less than $10,000 under his own cost estimate for the work. Still, it was much higher than the low bid $2.3 million the project garnered earlier this year.
After contingencies and engineering fees, Pritchard said total costs would slightly exceed $4 million.
“The bid is good for 60 days,” Pritchard said “… It’s springtime construction, depending on if and when you say go.”
State Aid road funds are chipping in $1.1 million and state legislation provided another $1 million for the project. Pending state approval, the county plans to use $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds on Oktoc Road. That leaves the county on the hook for the remaining $937,000 if the bid is accepted.
Williams, with the board’s assent, whittled away more from that total Tuesday, procuring another $81,000 in undesignated ARPA and county road bond money. The balance will come from local road funds previously designated for the project.
“I think the project is well on its way to getting approved and completed,” Williams said, despite the board’s inaction Tuesday. “This will bring a great deal of excitement to District 5.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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