BARNESVILLE — Village Council this week voted to reject the only bid received for the South Street Bridge replacement project.

Village Administrator Roger Deal reminded council on Monday that the project, which was advertised for bid earlier in November, had been estimated by the engineering firm Hall and Associates at $282,000. He then informed members that the only bid that had been received for the project had been for $359,334.

“Based on the fact that it is 10 percent over the engineer’s estimate and that we only got one bid, I would ask council to authorize a rejection of that bid and allow me to re-advertise it with a bid opening again for Jan. 4, 2019,” Deal said.

Council voted in favor of Deal’s request.

Deal also told council that an asbestos survey had been performed on the old Grave’s Hotel building on Church Street that was purchased by the village earlier this year and that he had received a quote of $19,650 to have the asbestos abatement performed. He added that an estimate of $3,825 had been given to have the asbestos removed from the Antiques on the Main building, located on North Chestnut Street.

Deal said that while he didn’t have any numbers yet, he had had contractors look at the hotel building “for demo.” Village Solicitor Marlin Harper pointed out that the windows in that building were relatively new and should be worth something if salvaged. Mayor Dale Bunting made the assurance that the windows would not be given away.

Fire Chief Tim Hall asked for council’s permission to apply once again for a “50/50” Ohio Department of Natural Resources grant for the purchase of protective equipment and hand tools, explaining that the village’s contribution would be no more than $5,000. Council granted the requested permission.

Hall also informed council that one of the village’s emergency squads had struck a deer the previous week. He said no one was hurt in the incident and that repairs are being performed at Hissom’s Garage.

Fiscal Officer Vicki Magers told council that the village had collected $71,138.71 from the fire levies and that the new EMS levy had yielded $181,866.28.

Council also approved paying bills in the amount of $309,093.23 and held the second reading of an ordinance to amend the village’s no parking ordinance during periods of snowfall from 2 inches to 3 inches. Members authorized spending up to $2,000 for the annual Christmas Luncheon for employees and retirees of the village and approved paying “Barnesville Gold” bonuses that provide full-time village employees with $50 and part-time employees $25.