The Lafayette County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution allowing the Lafayette County Highway Department to complete work on the County K Building property without submitting the work for bids at their last meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 15.
    The resolution will allow for the highway department to do work on the building’s parking lot, and authorizes Lafayette County Highway Commissioner Tom Jean to act on behalf of the county to submit applications to the state for necessary driveway permits; to submit reimbursement claims not to exceed $50,000 and to take necessary action to undertake, direct and complete the approved project before Nov. 1, 2015.
    According to Jean, the building’s current parking lot is not adequate to accommodate the workforce that will be working at the property, and between 36-40 parking stalls will need to be gained in order to make the parking situation efficient.
    The plan is to expand both the upper parking lot and a lower parking lot for the building.
    The county decided to pass this resolution to speed up the process, in order to have the building ready by the spring of next year.
    “The building won’t be ready for next spring if this isn’t passed,” said Jean. “Due to the timeline if the work is put out for bids, followed by the approval process, it just won’t be done this year.”
    The resolution noted that Wisconsin statutes allow for work to be done by the county without advertising for bids as long as three-fourths of the voting members of the county board approve such work. The resolution was passed unanimously by the 13 board members present at the meeting.