The Starke County Commissioners discussed the recently purchased asphalt paver for the highway department during their meeting Monday.
In a previous story, Starke County Highway Superintendent Rachel Oesterreich told the commissioners the current county owned asphalt paver recently had a mechanism fail causing the machine to not pave correctly. She added the department had stopped its current paving operations and noted the paver is a 2004 model that was purchased used by the county in 2012.
Oesterriech provided the council and commissioners with a quote from Sourcewell for a new asphalt paver. She stated it is the only paver that could be found currently available and formally asked the commissioners to approve the quote from Sourcewell. It was noted the quote received came in the amount of $257,478. Oesterreich stated she had contacted the State Board of Accounts and got confirmation on using the funds from MVH Restricted Fund 1173 for the purchase. She said the fund has $2.4 million available for purchases like this. The commissioners passed the purchase unanimously by vote.
During Monday’s meeting, Oesterreich stated the new paver has been working well for the department. She added 700 South and 1100 East have been paved and the department is looking at more county roads to update in the near future.
