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WALKER-Cass County commissioners Tuesday awarded a contract to the lowest of three bidders, Dechantal Excavating, for $88,294.55 to clear trees along County State Aid Highway 77.

This will be preliminary to rebuilding portions of the highway and repaving it this summer in the city of Lake Shore.

Tree clearing must be completed before June 1, according to County Engineer Darrick Anderson, to avoid cutting trees after northern long-eared bats might have nested in them. That bat species recently was declared endangered because white nose fungus has caused significant numbers to die.

The county board approved a detailed amendment to their agreement with the city of Remer to jointly build new facilities together this summer.

By building three new structures as a combined project, Remer and the county will save over $500,000 from early estimates to build the projects separately, Administrator Joshua Stevenson said.

Remer currently owns the land where the construction will take place.

Under agreements with the city, Remer will give Cass County a deed to land under the new county highway garage. Instead of paying for the land in cash, the county will pay for city new utility services being run into the property and for grading on the site.

Separately on land the city will retain, a new city fire hall will be built. The city also will retain ownership of land under a city ambulance garage that will share a common wall with the new county highway garage.

Cass County will oversee the construction project. Therefore, the city will deposit with the county within 30 days of bid opening, $300,000 for the fire hall construction and $200,000 for the ambulance garage construction and the remaining balance by June 1.

The mayor of Remer will have authority to approve change orders during construction with the city council's approval. Monthly statements of expenses will be shared during construction.

If less money is required than the city has given the county during construction, that overage will be refunded to the city.

Cass County Board awarded contracts Tuesday to the following low bidders for building construction:

Remer Fire Hall Total: $568,980.71

• Concrete-Voss Plumbing and Heating-$39,101.59 materials, $29,056.41 labor.

• Plumbing-Lundberg Plumbing & Heating-$28,700 materials, $31,800 labor.

• HVAC-Isaacson Inc. Ikes H&C-$75,502.71 materials, $20,066 labor.

• Electrical-RW Electric-$13,929 materials, $17, 875 labor.

• Steel building - Hytec Construction - $135,530 materials, $177,420 labor.



County Garage/City Ambulance Total: $710,631.27

• Concrete-Voss Plumbing and Heating-$47,384.91 materials, $37,295.09 labor.

• Plumbing-Lundberg Plumbing & Heating-$29,470 materials, $43,000 labor.

• HVAC-Isaacson Inc. Ikes H&C-$116,891.27 materials, $25,800 labor.

• Electrical-RW Electric-$18,640 materials, $20,150 labor.

• Steel building-Hytec Construction-$228,377 materials, $143,623 labor.

The county's share of the shared garage building will be $405,059.82, while the ambulance portion will be $305,571.45.

After trying unsuccessfully to work out joint projects with Minnesota Department of Transportation in years past, the Remer garage will be Cass County's first shared facility, Anderson said.

When Cass considered adding onto the MnDOT garage at Remer in 2010, the cost was expected to run $900,000, he said.

Building a separate new garage on the county's old garage property at Remer was estimated to cost $510,000, plus $170,000 to run sewer and water to the site.

The garage the county has owned at Remer was built in 1976. Since then, highway equipment has gotten larger, so is a tight fit inside it, Anderson said. Energy efficiency has improved, making the building costly to operate compared with today's new buildings, he added.

In other highway business Tuesday, the county board awarded a contract to low bidder Anderson Brothers Construction at $934,591.12 to grade, provide gravel base and bituminous surfacing on county roads 114, 115 and 171, on portions of county state aid highways 1 and 77 and on roads in Sylvan Township and the city of Pillager.

The city and town will reimburse the county for their portions of the project.

Anderson Brothers' bid ran 13.82 percent under engineering estimates. It was only $552.02 below the next highest bidder, Tri-City Paving.

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