HERMANN — In a 2-1 vote, the Gasconade County Commission Thursday morning voted to purchase a pair of pickup trucks for the Road Department from a dealership in Osage County.

Even though Hermann Ford’s bid for the trucks was not the lowest. Northern District Associate Commissioner Jim Holland, R-Hermann, favored buying the vehicles locally, rather than accepting the lowest bid that was offered by Jim Butler Chevrolet in Linn.

About a half-dozen bids were received for the vehicles. One of the trucks will be purchased out of this year’s operating budget; the money for the second truck will come out of the 2026 operating budget. Both trucks will arrive after the first of the year, said the road agency’s co-supervisors. Dennis Godi and Todd Troyer told the County Commission that because of lag time in placing the order for the trucks, delivery isn’t expected until about February.

Holland said he dissented in the vote “for the simple reason I’d like to keep it in the county.” Presiding Commissioner Tim Schulte, R-Hermann, and Southern District Associate Commissioner Ron Hardecke, R-Owensville, voted to purchase the vehicles from the Osage County dealership.

Meanwhile, Troyer said that by the end of the year, the county will have replaced nearly five times the number of culverts replaced last year.

“It’s going to be close” to 100 culverts put in this year, he said.

Much attention has been paid by road crews this year to replacing aging and clogged culverts throughout the county. Next year, crews will shift their attention to trimming limbs overhanging county roads and removal of dead timber that could pose a hazard to motorists during high winds.

In other transportation matters, Hardecke said he would be contacting the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) for assistance in correcting a sight-distance problem at Highway ZZ and Barren Fork Road.

“The only real solution is to cut the trees back,” Hardecke said. However, the owner of the land on which the trees stand is not willing to remove them, the associate commissioner said, adding that he’s hoping MoDOT can offer a possible solution to the hazardous intersection.

As an example of the problem facing motorists at the junction, Hardecke noted that he was almost hit broadside by a vehicle as he was driving through the intersection.

The Commission formally awarded a contract to KJ Unnerstall of Washington to make improvements to a 2.8-mile section of the Rock Island Trail that lies in unincorporated county. The stretch of trail runs from the eastern city limits of Owensville and runs east, ending at Soap Creek Bridge, west of the city limits of Rosebud. The work is being financed with a state Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant of about $500,000.

Unnerstall was the lowest of three bidders for the project. The Washington company also received the contract to make improvements on the portion of the trail that runs through the city of Owensville.