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At the Monday night commission meeting, the Chambers County Commissioners approved several equipment purchases for the Highway Department totaling $216,500 at the request of County Engineer Josh Harvill.

The commissioners approved allocating American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the purchase of a Dynapac CA 1500D Soil Roller and two Ford F150 Supercab 4×4 trucks. The ARPA funding comes from the Coronavirus State and Local Recovery for revenue replacement from the state. 

The soil roller will be purchased from Pittman Tractor Company through the ACCA Joint Bid Program which helps ACCA (Association of County Commissions of Alabama) members with bids. 

Through the ACCA Joint Bid program, commissioners can approve bids for certain items without having to bid out each item, such as Heavy Equipment, Pipe, Herbicides, Liquid Asphalt and Bulk Cement, Road Signs and Traffic Marking Materials.

The county currently has two 66-inch rollers, which are equivalent to the Dynapac CA 1500D Soil Roller. The new roller would be a replacement for one of those, which Harvill explained has cost the commission “a pretty significant amount” in repairs for breakdowns. 

The total cost for the roller would be $125,000.

The other two equipment vehicles, current model Ford F150 Supercab pickups, will be purchased from Stivers Ford Lincoln. They will be purchased through the State Contract T191. The current model will be either 2024 or 2025. The total cost will be $45,425 each. 

The county’s current balance for ARPA funding is $197,061.82, according to Harvill, which is projected depending on how the courthouse renovation project runs. Harvill said that the courthouse renovations which have been ongoing throughout 2024 are expected to come in under budget.

The last resolution that Harvill made was for the commissioners to execute the amendment to the current professional services agreement with JMR+H Architecture. 

The amendment would include the installation of an ADA-compliant automatic door opening for the east entrance and a new security station for law enforcement at the public entrance to the Chambers County Courthouse. 

This would be pending County Attorney Skip McCoy’s review of the amendment, according to Harvill. The county approved that resolution as well.