LIBERTY — Amite County supervisors have hired Gulf Breeze Construction LLC of Saucier to build a new bridge on New Hope Road north of Gloster.
The total estimated cost of the concrete bridge is $608,200.
County engineer David Cothren opened five bids Wednesday and determined Gulf Breeze as the low bid at 3% under the engineering estimate on the project.
“They’ve done several jobs over around Wiggins, several jobs the past couple years, of this kind of work,” Cothren said. “It’s not going to be the first bridge they’ve built.”
The other four bids were above the estimated cost, he said.
New Hope Road will likely need to be closed completely during the construction, but the official go-ahead on the work is still 30-45 days away, Cothren told supervisors.
Ongoing bridge repairs on Hebron Road in the Thompson community have received final approval with right-of-ways coming this week.
Supervisor Tony Patterson asked Cothren about the possibility of approving bridge repairs on Mary Wall Bridge Road, a nearly $1 million project that was approved in November 2020 then canceled in December to reallocate that money for the Hebron Road repairs.
Cothren said he believes it will qualify for Emergency Road and Bridge Replacement funds from the state.
However, he warned the board that next time ERBR money is available, the fund which was previously exclusively made of state money will now include federal money as well, adding more steps to the approval process.
Supervisors renewed Cothren’s yearly contract at $32,000 a year.
Also at Friday’s meeting, supervisors:
• Heard Caryn Walle’s dispute of a solid waste bill for a house on Pray Road which belonged to her late father, Glen Walle. A North Carolina resident, Walle has been occasionally staying in Mississippi to renovate the house which has continued to incur solid waste bills due to still having electricity.
Solid waste enforcement officer Murry Toney told Walle that his department will work with her on a plan for the bill’s back payments.
• Approved Toney’s hire of Bonny May as full-time driver at $2,240 a month and his move of Deatric Johnson from part-time to full-time hopper at $1,651 a month.
• Took no action on a personnel matter discussed in executive session.
