Wood County commissioners got a little good news on the county jail expansion project Tuesday.

All three proposals came in under the $8 million budget.

DRG Architects will take the proposals to review before making a recommendation to commissioners.

Apparent low bidder was Integrity Contractors of Allen at $7,177,777 with a 365 calendar day timetable.

Next was SCI Construction of Whitehouse at $7,540,453 with 365 days to compete.

And CDI Contractors of Little Rock, Ark. bid $7,778,000 with 360 days to complete.

The project is being funded about half from federal COVID relief dollars and half from the county’s fund balance.

Commissioners then awarded bids for asphalt and other paving materials to the Hainesville location of Longview Asphalt.

Although that firm’s bid was higher, it offered the option for delivery and is much closer than Tyler with less traffic.

Tyler was awarded the secondary bid.

Commissioners had questions about the recent quality issues with the Hainesville location, which recently changed ownership.

Commissioner Mike Simmons was blunt in his assessment of the oil sand, which would not harden properly.

“It is sorry stuff,” he said. “You can throw that out the window.”

The lower quality issues surfaced in the past 6-8 months and were apparently a result of the company cutting costs in anticipation of the selling.

Commissioners received assurances that the quality issues would be addressed.

Executive Director Tiffany Damskov of Meals on Wheels of East Texas gave commissioners figures on the number of meals and volunteer hours the service provides in the county.

The four Wood County sites serve 45,000 meals per year and accounted for 4,600 volunteer hours.

The cost of providing those meals is almost $300,000 per year. Between state and federal funding cutbacks and increased costs for food and vehicle operations, the county comes up about $72,000 short.

Damskov said she was not asking commissioners for the entire amount but to consider an increase in this year’s budget.

The program currently has a waiting list.