Fentress County will rebid a repair project for a deteriorating concrete floor at the Solid Waste Transfer Station after receiving only one bid that exceeded $250,000.
Solid Waste Director Michael Rick said the floor is deteriorating at a rapid rate due to what engineers believe is a sinkhole caused by groundwater. Rick said the current floor, which measures only three to four inches thick, was not designed to handle the heavy commercial traffic and weight processed at the facility.
“That’s where we’re saving some costs is we’re actually having a self-sustaining floor built on top of that,” Rick said, “Be a lot of extra additional costs to cut the existing floor out.”
Fentress County Finance Director Tyler Arms said the Solid Waste department does not have the necessary funds in its budget to cover the $250,000 project. Arms said the county would have to pull from its fund balance or pursue an interfund loan.
“I make a motion we put it back out to bid and see what we get,” Commissioner Ben Cooper said. “I mean I would think cutting it out and building it back would be a lot cheaper wouldn’t it?”
Arms said the engineer’s estimate for the project was approximately $275,000. Armes said there was very little initial interest in the project from larger contractors because it is considered a smaller job located at a waste facility.
“Within this rebid are you wanting us to go back to the engineer and talk about other options?” Arms said. “I mean we could see if he can’t have it bid it out both ways or if there’s other stipulations to it to the bid part.”
The transfer station currently requires 20 tons of gravel per week to keep the hole filled while the floor continues to sink. Rick said the facility handles all trash for the county, including waste from convenience sites, and often has a steady line of traffic extending to the highway.
