CADIZ — Two very different bids were received from construction companies for an impending garage expansion project.

One was more than $100,000 above the engineer’s estimate, while the other nearly $180,000 below.

Harrison County Engineer Doug Bachman is hoping to expand the county’s current highway garage facility to include offices as well as equipment.

The engineer’s office currently operates out of two different areas — partially out of an office located inside the courthouse while the remaining highway staff operates out of the garage facility on Service Garage Road.

The estimated $806,590 addition would allow the department to work out of a single area.

Engineer Doug Bachman opened two bids Wednesday morning during the Harrison County Board of Commissioners’ meeting.

Colaianni Construction out of Dillonvale bid $915,200, while E. Mullins Construction out of Bloomingdale bid $627,000.

Bachman recommended tabling the bids for further review. Commissioners Dale Norris, Don Bethel and Paul Coffland approved the recommendation.

Following the meeting, Bachman said the addition will be constructed on the left side of the current garage which faces U.S. 22.

The project is being paid for by county funds.

In other matters, commissioners signed an agreement with Border Patrol LLC out of Hopedale for $320,000 to complete the upgrades to the Harrisville wastewater treatment plant.

Brandon Conley, a project manager with E.L. Robinson, a company hired by the county to assist with the project, recommended the company for the project.

The bid was the only one to come in under the engineer’s estimate of $335,500.

Conley said they are expecting it to take around 20 weeks for materials to be delivered. Over the next three months, the village, engineer company and construction company will hold progress meetings each month. He said he is anticipating construction on the project to begin in February.

The project is fully funded by a grant through the Ohio Mid-Eastern Governments Association. It includes the replacement of the UV disinfection unit and installation of an automatic bar screen to remove debris and prevent trash from entering the system.

Bob Allen, business manager of E.L. Robinson, also gave an update on a potential water and sewer project in the village of Bowerston. He said they applied and secured a 50% principal forgiveness loan through the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency including around $1.75 million in grant funding. He said when they recently contacted the EPA to inform them there would not be a line extension outside of the village limits that would allow the village to include New Hagerstown to add additional customers, they retracted the grant due to lack of health hazard points.

Allen said the EPA recommended bringing the Rural Community Assistance Partnership in to assist with securing the funding. He said they plan to schedule a public meeting in the Conotton Creek area.

“If we can just get a few folks there to take water off of Bowerston that might be able to save that principal forgiveness which equates to around $1.75 million in grant money,” he said.

Allen said they are making every effort to save that funding opportunity for the village. A meeting date with RCAP has not yet been set.