Sherburne County is helping townships and cities save money on their local road projects by joining resources.

 

Tuesday, Sherburne County Public Works Director  Andrew Witter told county commissioners about the program.

 

“We’re taking in their projects an including them in our bid documents, our bid lettings and our construction administration,” he said. “This has gone on a little bit in past years, but it’s gaining some momentum with a number of the townships.”

 

Witter said townships can save a significant amount through a partnership with the county by not having to hire a private consultant to do certain types of work during the construction process.

 

The townships are responsible for design and specifications on their individual projects. But those are submitted to the county for inclusion as part of bigger projects.

 

“We’re able to  include them in our normal process,” said Witter.

 

Services in that process include things like including plan assemblies, adding their specifications into specification documents, bidding procedures, advertising costs, putting together monthly payments for contactors  throughout the entire project, project closeout, insurance documents, helping contractors put together work order supplemental agreements, change orders and the formation of joint powers agreements.

 

“It includes everybody from our field staff all the way up to our county administrator, if you consider some of the documents he needs to review and sign as well as getting approval from the county board,” said Witter.

 

Tuesday, the board approved four different joint powers agreements with Baldwin, Becker, Clear Lake and Livonia townships that will become a supplemental part of county road improvement projects.

 

They include:

• Baldwin Twp. - ­ 136th Street from Co. Rd. 9 to Co. Rd. 42; 

 

• Becker Twp.­ - 185th Ave. from Co. Rd. 73 to 109th Street;

 

• Clear Lake Twp. - ­ 97th Street from Hwy. 10 to Co. Rd 53;

 

• Livonia Twp. -­ 112th Street from Co. Rd. 19 to Co. Rd. 4.

 

Witter said there is some additional cost to the county by including township plans and specifications, but he wasn’t proposing to charge the townships for any of the agreements.

 

“Public Works has been working to improve some of the partnerships with our townships,” he said. “This is one way in which we do that.”