By Aubreanna Miller
For the Herald
Commissioners accepted five bids for a new District 2 shop building next year and heard updates from Luke Virgil, director of Economic Development, during their Tuesday morning meeting.
At their next meeting on Dec. 19, the Commissioners will make a decision to accept one bid for the 2024 project. They will review the bids during that time.
The first bid came from CL Construction, LLC, out of Wahoo. That amount totaled $854,372.64; construction would occur from April 29 to July 12. Bierman Construction out of Columbus presented a bid of $609,860.00 and dates of March 15 through August 1.
Out of Wakefield, JMB Contracting, LLC, had a bid of $636,737.29 for the dates April 1 through August 1. MCS Construction from West Point set their bid at $584.970.55 for construction dates May 1 to August 1.
Finally, Otte Construction Company from Wayne presented a bid of $753,260.00 for March 1 through August 1.
Also during the meeting, Luke Virgil, as the director of Economic Development, introduced his staff who now all work for the City of Wayne.
Staff members include: Brayden Sharp, Marketing Coordinator; Jennifer Canham, Assistant Director for Housing and Rachel Miller, Assistant Director for Membership.
Virgil also discussed the future of Wayne Area Economic Development as a department within the City of Wayne. The organization plans to rebrand as Wayne America, Inc., including changing their website to wayneamerica.org.
The department assured Commissioners membership and sponsorship for local businesses will continue as normal and those funds will be kept separate from the City of Wayne and Wayne County funds.
In a recent agreement, the City of Wayne will provide $290,000 to the organization and Wayne County has promised to allocate $125,000 for the fiscal year of 2023-24. This amount from the county will be paid in quarterly installments.
The meeting ended with an introduction of the new Deputy County Attorney.
County Attorney Amy Miller introduced Ted Lohrberg, who works as the county attorney in Pierce. He will travel to Wayne to complete the duties of his new role as needed.
The Commissioners tabled a discussion on the acquisition of an office building for the county attorney's office until their next meeting. The appraisal was not finished for Tuesday's meeting.
On Dec. 19, the Commissioners will hold their next meeting at 9 a.m.
