The county will see more illegal dumps, including a couple of major sized areas, cleaned up later this year, thanks to a state grant from the Division of Waste Management. And, Clinton County Fiscal Court has now awarded contract bids for the clean-up to the two major sites in the southeast portion of the county.

The court, during a brief call meeting last Wednesday morning, March 22, awarded the low bids on both the Hwy. 696 and Stinson Road sites, both of which are in close proximity to the other.

The court had opened bids on both projects at its regular meeting earlier this month and took time to study and review all the bids before taking official action.

The court’s regular meeting on March 16, judge-executive Richard Armstrong had suggested possibly awarding one company the bid on both projects, due to them being so close together. However, the judge noted at last week’s call meeting that he had been advised by Bruce Orentsein, legal counsel for KACo Insurance, that the court should, legally, award the low bid on each site or re-bid the project and advertise for both sites to be combined.

Apparently due to the time it would take re-advertise for the work, the court opted to go ahead and award the low bid on each single project.

A total of three companies had submitted bids on the projects.

Representatives from one of the firms submitting bids, Nunn Excavation out of Greensburg, which had the lower overall bids for both projects combined, said they could do both jobs, but accepted the court’s assessment of awarding separate bids.

The court, on a motion by Magistrate Terry Buster, did vote unanimously to award Nunn Excavation the bid on the most major site, Hwy. 696, at a price of $103,000.00. Its total combined bid ($37,500 on the Stinson Road site), would have been $140,500.00.

On a separate motion, the court awarded the low bid on the Stinson Road project to Rock Trucking of Clay City, Kentucky for 28,225.00. That company’s bid on the Hwy. 696 site was $149,333 for a total bid on both sites at $177,888.00.

The only bidder, B & J Transfer of London, submitted a combined bid of $ $140,700 for both sites–$108,000 on the Hwy. 696 location and $32,700 on the Stinson Road site.

County Attorney Michael Rains informed the court at the meeting that only about three more easements were needed from landowners affected by the clean-up projects and once all easements were obtained he would inform the county, which will in turn notify the successful bidders on when work on the project can begin.

The clean-ups of the two sites is expected to be completed by late this summer.

A few other illegal dump site locations, which will take under the necessary bid amount of $20,000 for a project which requires advertisement, will be cleaned up by the county.

The county applies for state funding on an annual basis and has been able to keep several illegal dumping sites, large and small, cleared. They also receive Litter Abatement grant money, which is used for annual roadside cleaning.

The next regular meeting of fiscal court is scheduled for April 20.