Panel unseals bids for equipment

Bourbon County Commissioners unsealed five bids for a track hoe during its regular Monday meeting, with bids ranging from $114,500 to $169,500. Commissioners hope to make a decision sometime next week from among the five bids after conferring with Public Works Director Marty Pearson.

The five bids were as follows in the order opened:

*Victor L. Phillips submitted the low bid of $114,500 for a 2009 Hyundai Crawler, Model R210 with 1,350 hours of usage.

*Custom Truck and Equipment submitted a bid of $148,000 for a 2011 Doosan Model DX225LC with 885 hours of usage.

*Murphy Tractor & Equipment Co. submitted a $154,453 bid for a 2008 John Deere 200D model with 2,900 hours.

*Foley Implement submitted a bid for $169,500 for a 2011 Caterpillar 320 DL with 1,341 hours.

*Berry Tractor and Equipment Company submitted a $145,607 bid for a 2008 Komatsu PC200LC-8 with 2,125 hours.

In other business, commissioners decided to waive the fee for the city of Fort Scott at construction and demolition for disposal of a building at the golf course which was used to hold golf carts.

Pearson and commissioners discussed using empty railroad tanker cars as an economical alternative to fixing a bridge one-half mile west of 215th and Yellowstone. Pearson said he is going to check into the cost. Using this technique, tankers are cut and buried beneath dirt to form bridge supports. Pearson said the bridge would probably take about $100,000 if replaced by conventional methods.

Pearson also notified commissioners that signals on hand-held radios in his department have been weak, due to rusting inside canisters that house repeaters for the devices.

Two weeks ago, he said the radios were pushing only 20 watts, significantly less than the optimal 50 watts.

Pearson said work was done on the canisters by an outside contractor this summer to alleviate overheating. The holes that were meant to vent the canisters apparently allowed too much moisture in, causing the rust.

He also said he met with a subcontractor for Suddenlink to work out options for burying fiber optic cable from Mercy Hospital, east to 230th Street on Jayhawk Road. The cable will be tapping into Cox Communications cables for high-speed Internet service.