Columbia County | Public Works and Engineering Services Committee Meeting (October 27th)

The Columbia County Public Works and Engineering Services Committee meeting (metadata date: October 20, 2026; the title references October 27) received a flood-hazard mitigation update: county activities maintain a 20% flood-insurance discount for eligible residents, with more than 5,900 pipe inspections and over 25 mitigation projects reported. The committee approved by consent a $146,310 change order with Blair Construction for the Sawdust Road waterline; replacement equipment purchases of a Takeuchi crawler dumper ($107,229.88) and Vermeer directional-drill package (about $251,007); engineering and utility agreements with Goodwyn Mills and Cawood ($9,705), ISM ($87,543.54), and Augusta Industrial Services ($96,935); and a $20,000 concept-development and cost-estimating contract with Athena Engineering for the SPLOST-funded Evanstown Center intersection project. It also ratified an emergency $325,517 Blair Construction roadway-shoring purchase on Oakley Purple Road, funded equally from discretionary and stormwater funds, and approved rejecting bids for county property at 4065 Columbia Road while staff evaluates converting it to green space.

The committee approved three resolutions finalizing abandonment and sale of portions of Crawford Place Lane, following public hearings. Staff reported that the Harlem sewer-line project is expected to finish in December and that Fury’s Ferry paving and reopening were expected by the end of that week. The transcript also includes an earlier, separate Community Emergency Services Committee segment: it approved acknowledgment of a hospital-financing sublease and authorizations involving historic-property funds, animal-service donations, and a $300,000 Google donation for technical rescue training. No competitive bid award was identified for the Public Works contracts described; several purchases were recommended for approval under existing purchasing arrangements.