Floyd County approves road projects; discusses communications tower space leases

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The Floyd County Board of Supervisors at its meeting this week approved contracts for two road projects, with one very close to the estimated cost and the other coming in almost $453,000 below the estimate.

The board also discussed marketing available space on the new communications tower near Rockford, and approved publishing the annual noxious weed notification.

The first road project is for County Road B60 from the intersection with Highway 14 east 7 miles to County Road T64 and then from T64 east 5.7 miles on B60 to the Nashua city limits.

Floyd County Engineer Adam Miller said there were three bidders on the project, with the lowest bid from Mathy Construction Co. of Onalaska, Wisconsin, for $3,417,166.55. The engineer’s estimated cost for the project had been $3,405,846.

The project will use cold in-place recycling to grind off the existing road surface and use it to create a new base, then apply hot mix asphalt over the top to create a new driving surface.

Miller said all three bids were very close, with the second lowest being about $6,000 more than Mathy’s winning bid.

The other project is for milling then applying a new hot mix asphalt surface on County Road T26 east of Rockford from County Road B45 north 4.5 miles to Rudd.

Miller said there was one bid on this project, from Heartland Asphalt Inc. of Mason City, for $915,961.04. The engineer’s estimate had been $1,368,950.

“So that bid came in very favorable to us,” Miller said.

Also at the meeting, the board members continued a discussion on possibly hiring a company to do the marketing and management of space on the new 300-foot-tall communications tower the county had built near Rockford.

Representatives of Pyramid Network Services, the same company that had built the tower for Floyd County’s new public service communications system, said via video conference that the company had been building towers for 30 years and it was an easy transition to also help with asset marketing and management.

Leanne Reith, director of business development for Pyramid, said they would handle the entire process, including assuring that new antennas or other equipment mounted on the tower would not compromise the structural integrity of the tower or interfere with the county’s radio communications.

Matthew Bell, Pyramid’s vice president of business development, said, “The first priority is public safety, but there’s money to be had renting space.”

Reith said if Floyd County signed a contract with Pyramid, they would start marketing with the “main four” companies that are typically looking for tower space – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Dish – and they would also market to lesser known companies.

In return for marketing the tower space and managing the assets, Pyramid would get 20% of the tower lease revenue.

Another part of the equation is that Stephen Schlader, the landowner who sold the tower property to the county, will get 25% of lease revenue for 30 years, according to the sales agreement. With Pyramid’s cut and Schlader’s share, Floyd County would get 55% of the tower lease revenue, which could be up to several thousands of dollars a month.

The Pyramid representatives spent a little time discussing whether it would be better for Pyramid to collect all the lease payments then send Floyd County and Schlader their shares, or for Floyd County to collect all the lease payments then send payments to the other parties.

The board asked the Pyramid representatives to send them sample contracts with a couple of payment options so that they can be shown to the county attorney for his review.

Also Tuesday morning, the supervisors:

• Approved the annual publication of the list of noxious weeds in Floyd County and directing property owners to eradicate them when found on their property. The weeds listed are Canada thistle, musk thistle, teasel, leafy spurge, annual sunflower, sour dock, Palmer amaranth and wild mustard

Last week Supervisor Boyd Campbell had suggested that wild parsnip be added to the list, but Tim Laube, a Secondary Roads Department superintendent who is also the county weed commissioner, said Tuesday that wild parsnip was so pervasive that it would be impossible to try to control with the budget the county has.

“About 5,500 acres of road right of way would have to be sprayed,” he said, adding that Iowa State University has advised that “getting rid of it is near impossible.”

• Noted the resignation of Jennifer Hoeft as a clerk in the Recorder’s Office and her hiring as the administrative and mapping specialist in the Assessor’s Office.

County Recorder Amy Assink asked permission of the board to begin advertising to hire a full-time replacement for Hoeft, but Supervisor Gloria Carr, who had previously been county auditor, said she thought the position could be filled with a part-time person.

A vote to approve allowing Assink to hire a full-time clerk passed 2-1, with Carr voting against.

• Noted the hiring of Jessica O’Connor as the new office manager for Floyd County Conservation.