During their meeting Tuesday morning, the Bourbon County Commission approved a request for $9,400 from Schwab-Eaton engineers to complete a study on a bridge just south of Fulton in need of repairs.

The money, which public works director Jim Harris said will come from the special road and bridges budget, will include a site visit, a cost estimate for replacing the bridge, investigation of a grant opportunity, the possibility of repairs instead of replacement and the alternate routes available for during bridge closure.

“I don’t believe we have much choice, do we?” commissioner Harold Coleman asked.

Harris said the bridge, which goes over the railroad tracks and was built in 1939, is on the critical list along with about four other bridges in the county. For those bridges, Harris said it is likely fruitless to spend a couple thousand dollars just to refurbish them when they are in need of a more drastic overhaul.

“You can’t just go in and do some repairs,” Harris said.

Schwab-Eaton has said they are prepared to begin immediately, which commissioner Lynne Oharah agreed “the sooner the better,” so decisions can be made concerning how to react to the study.

The commissioners also voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to approve the sale of certificates of participation for the equipment lease purchase for the new law enforcement center.

The certificates cover $1,753,000 of the $1,788,000 needed to purchase the jail cells, including an interest rate of 3.42 percent. Oharah pointed out they will probably not get a lower interest rate since those rates have begun to move upward again after months of record lows.

The county will not make their first payment until March 1, 2018. The remaining $34,000 not covered by the certificates will be paid for by the county, likely from the revenue generated by the sales tax approved for the project.