MEDORA
A Seymour company is 2-for-2 in landing paving projects for Jackson County towns.
All Star Paving provided the lowest of four bids submitted for the project in Medora. Its bid was $160,375, while the others were $174,865.75 from Dave O’Mara Contractor Inc. of North Vernon, $195,834 from Robertson Paving of Flat Rock and $298,538 from Milestone Contractors LP of Columbus.
All Star Paving also recently had the lowest bid for a paving project in Brownstown.
Both are through the Next Level Roads: Community Crossings Initiative, which was created by the Indiana General Assembly in 2016 and is funded by the state.
To qualify for funding, local governments must provide local matching funds — 50 percent for larger communities or 25 percent for smaller communities — from a funding source approved for road and bridge construction. They also must submit an Indiana Department of Transportation-approved asset management plan for maintaining existing roads and bridges.
State law requires 50 percent of the available matching funds be awarded to communities within counties with a population of 50,000 or fewer.
In March, Medora learned it would receive $156,918.75 in grant funding. The town’s match will be $40,093.75.
During a Medora Town Council meeting Monday night, the council unanimously approved All Star Paving’s contract contingent upon an engineer’s review. INDOT requires the project to be under contract by July 1.
After Jon Craig with Midwestern Engineers Inc. of Loogootee reviews the paperwork, the project will be able to move forward.
The paving project came in under the engineer’s estimate of $209,225.
The grant will fund plans to mill and pave portions of Main and George streets and finish out a sidewalk near the senior citizens center.
The project also includes milling and overlaying Main Street from its eastern boundary at David Street to George Street. That will skip over State Road 235 (Perry Street) because the state is responsible for that work and then head south on George Street one block to Riley Street.
The project also will improve drainage.
This is the first time for Medora and Brownstown to be awarded a Community Crossings grant.
