The Marion County Board has approved a $100,000 transfer of leftover motor fuel tax funds from 2010 to the county highway department’s budget this year.
Highway Engineer Mike McCormick wants to use $60,000 of the money to pay for emergency repairs to the Route 161 Extension Bridge over Skillet Fork and the other $40,000 to purchase a used dump truck.
McCormick says the Illinois Department of Transportation is currently working on design plans for the emergency work to repair the failing supports for one of the support bridges. Until the work is completed, the bridge is one lane only with a weight limit for trucks. McCormick says the 11-ton limit for all trucks has been lowered to 10 tons for a single axle truck and 15 tons for other trucks.
McCormick says while the highway department has three dump trucks now, two are not operational and a third has had mechanical issues. He reports the purchase of the used dump truck is needed for the department to complete the required maintenance work.
McCormick said the department is allowed to keep unused motor fuel tax revenue from past years as a way to have a reserve for emergency projects.
The board also approved renting space to the State of Illinois’ new pre-trial court services office. Effective January first, the State is taking over the program currently being completed by the probation department. The program will utilize two rooms in the basement portion of the public service building that is separated by a sliding window. The rooms will be available as soon as renovation work on the public service building is complete which will allow all of the probation offices to be located together on the main floor. The state will pay $12 per square foot for the state. The Deputy Director of operations for the program Don Jones says they will begin with one officer, but a second may be needed depending on volume.
