Castle Valley approves $1.09 million payment for Castle Creek culvert project; town expects reimbursements

The Castle Valley Town Council on April 15 discussed and moved to process a $1,093,040.64 invoice from Bay Brothers for the Castle Creek culvert project while staff described the town’s current outlays and expected reimbursements.

Clerk Brooklyn (speaking as clerk) said the town has spent $342,006.83 so far on the project in direct costs and is pursuing multiple grant reimbursements that, if approved, would reduce the town’s net expense. "If we get reimbursed everything that I've put in for, our total cost will be the $342,006.83 so far," Brooklyn said. Council members noted additional April invoices and rip-rap costs remain before final reconciliation.

Jorge, the town road supervisor, told the council the work is near completion: guardrail crews have installed hardware, the base course is filled and crews expect roughly three inches of asphalt to be placed as a cold patch before final chip seal. "We are planning on doing cold patch, essentially, the pavement over it," Jorge said, and added he expects the road to reopen next week pending a final contractor walk-through.

Council members raised a circulating rumor that the contractor had run out of funds; Jorge denied that, saying material costs for the remaining asphalt remain within the materials budget. "I'm not aware of them running out [of money]," he said.

The council discussed logistics for removing detour signs and a green gate after contractor acceptance. Jorge said the gate removal and sign takedown would follow contractor sign-off and could take hours to a couple of days, likely within 24 hours of the acceptance inspection.

The council recorded the discussion as part of regular business and directed staff to continue pursuit of reimbursements and finalize payment processing to Bay Brothers.

Next steps: staff will continue filing and following up on grant reimbursements, complete any outstanding materials invoices, perform a final walk-through with the contractor and remove detour signage once the project is accepted.