County highway department awards $1.606 million road contract and signs three-year GPS agreement

County Highway Director Troy Cancel asked the commission to approve a three-year agreement for GPS location and diagnostic software for new trucks and an award of the Community Crossing Matching Grant (CCMG) bid.

Cancel said the GPS system provides location tracking, diagnostic codes and remote support that helps mechanics identify problems without sending them to roadside calls. "If our trucks break down, we have a location of where that driver is and how we can get to them," he said, describing uses such as winter operations and prioritizing responses.

Commissioners approved a three-year contract with the vendor at an annual cost of $9,655.20 and asked staff to renegotiate terms at the end of the three-year window. Later in the Highway Department report staff presented bid results for the CCMG project; commissioners accepted the low bid from First Brooks Construction of Fort Wayne at $1,606,528 and noted that the award came in about $400,000 to $500,000 under the engineer's estimate.

The commission approved both items by voice vote.