Supervisors increase easement payments for Conrad bridge

After some discussion, the Grundy County Board of Supervisors voted to increase the easement payments to landowners by approximately $3,000 per acre for the bridge replacement project just west of Conrad during its regular meeting on Monday morning.
           
The board had originally agreed to pay $8,498 per acre for just less than two affected acres on the $710,000 bridge replacement, but a nearby farm sold at auction for $11,500 per acre, prompting an increased request from the landowners. One of them, JoAnn Klein, also wishes to be compensated for her trees that are destroyed by the project, and assistant county engineer Steve Cox lamented that he had had very little contact with the Rays, one of the land-owning families who now live in California.
           
“I don’t like paying any more, but I don’t think we have a choice,” Supervisor Jim Ross, who represents the area in question, said. 
 
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