By Charlene Sims, info@linncountyjournal.com
MOUND CITY – At the end of the Linn County Commission meeting on Monday, Feb. 24, Public Works Director Shaun West asked commissioners Alison Hamilton and Jim Johnson for approval to put a request for proposal (RFP) to go out to bid for an on-call engineering firm. Commissioner Jason Hightower was not at the meeting.
West told the commissioners that the county had several projects that are waiting.
“And Kaw Valley resigned from us, right?” asked Johnson, referring to Lenexa-based Kaw Valley Engineering Inc.
West said that was correct. He said that he had received the company’s resignation in writing.
Johnson and Hamilton agreed that West should put out the bid.
At the Dec. 16 meeting, tempers flared when former Commissioner Danny McCullough blamed Kaw Valley engineer Chad McCullough for the failure of the bridge repair on 900 Road.
Chad McCullough explained that he did not design the project but was just responsible for getting the permits for the project.
Danny McCullough asked who determined that the county fill it with $40,000 worth of concrete around the tubes.
Chad McCullough answered that when asked about his recommendation, he had suggested doing a concrete box like the one under Wattles Road just 100 yards upstream. He pointed out that they talked about bidding the project out but that it was probably going to be around $200,000 to do that. He reminded them that they did not want to do that.
The engineer continued saying that somebody had mentioned going in between large culverts with flowable fill, and he replied that was fine if commissioners wanted to do that. Flowable fill is a cement-based product designed to fill holes in hard to reach places, but it is also called CLSM, controlled low strength material.
Chad McCullough said that it wasn’t a design problem. But that it was an execution problem. He said he had never worked with the county guys before and did not know their skill level.
At the commission meeting on June 10, 2024, the commissioners discussed replacing the large-diameter culverts as a temporary fix and then going out for engineering and bids for a box culvert for a permanent repair. At that time West said that he was being told by the engineer that tubes were not the solution for this project.
At that same meeting, commissioners McCullough and then Johnson suggested using flowable fill to keep the culverts in place.
“I feel like we’re putting too much thought and effort into the temporary fix,” Danny McCullough said. “I don’t . . . Just back his concrete truck up there, dump concrete down in it, and it’s called flowable fill because it flows the least path of resistance.”
At the meeting on July 8, 2024 with just commissioners McCullough and Johnson present, they voted to proceed to replace culverts at the 900 Road project.
However, when county crews began using the flowable fill on the project, the culverts floated on top of the fill, halting the project. Commissioner McCullough pointed out that Kaw Valley was responsible for the problem.
At the end of the discussion on Dec. 16, Danny McCullough said that the county would have to get lawyers involved. At that point, Chad McCullough walked away from the microphone and said to West that the firm’s contract allows either party to terminate the contract at any time.
Danny McCullough had disparaged Chad McCullough publicly earlier in the year when the engineer talked about the need to replace the Hell's Bend bridge north of La Cygne.
Comments