The Cass County Board of Supervisors today (Wednesday) received updates on the status of various road projects and the 9-1-1 Communications Center project. In his report to the Board, County Engineer Charles Marker said he would be checking the roads in the county for washouts and damage following Tuesday’s heavy rain, but he hadn’t heard of too many issues at the time of his report.

In other news, Marker said the Interstate 80 bridge northeast of Marne on County Road M-56 was officially closed Monday, and county crews have bladed a detour route. Construction on the bridge deck replacement project takes place at night, so as to keep traffic moving as normal as possible during the day. A concrete box replacement project north of Marne being worked on by Gus Construction is nearly complete, and has a required sand backfill around the box. All the remains, according to Marker, is the placing of dirt on top of the sand, and then rock on top of the road.

Another bridge deck project by DENCO Construction, is underway on County Road N-28 north of Cumberland. There are two other projects to follow once the N-28 work is done. Cass County 9-1-1 Director Rob Koppert told the Board there were “A couple of issues” with the facility under construction at the former law firm building across the street to the southwest of the Courthouse.

The first was a tiny room under the stoop where a fire extinguishing system is going to be installed. Koppert said there were some “water issues” following recent rains. Supervisor Chuck Rieken said he was aware of the issue, and it was being taken care of. The second issue has to do with a slight sagging of the floor above the dispatch center, where the Cambridge Law Firm has their lobby.

Koppert said they removed three shelving units to make way for the communication center’s equipment and dry wall work. Unknown to the architects or anyone else, those shelves apparent bore some of the weight from above, because when the tenants above or their clients walk on the floor, it has some “bounce.” The issue does not however, constitute a problem with structural rigidity or building safety.

Koppert was instructed to work with the contractor to determine the most cost effective means of adding support to the ceiling without interfering with the Comm. Center’s space. Most of the construction should be finished by mid-November, with the equipment installed by the end of December. The Center should be ready to open no later than June 1st, 2015.