STARKVILLE — More than a half dozen contractors showed up at the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting Wednesday to find out who would win the bid for the Poorhouse Road construction project, but the group left without any answers.
Supervisors returned unopened bids to eight contractors because an issue with right-of-way acquisition has delayed the project, County Administrator Don Posey said.
District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy said the county needs to get appraisals done on “two or three” properties because the descriptions of the properties were inaccurate during the initial right-of-way acquisition process. After the lands are appraised and agreements are reached with the property owners, the county intends to put out bids for the project once again, Clardy said.
“We have to make sure descriptions of the properties are accurate before we open the bids and move forward with the project,” explained Clardy.
The county wants to get the appraisals and acquisitions done as quickly as possible or else it could lose roughly $1.6 million in stimulus funds designated for the project, according to Clardy.
“This is just a delay,” Clardy said. “We”ve got to get two or three (properties) corrected and then we”ll be right back on track.”
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