Monday afternoon, Ramon Gonzalez, sales manager for the Perry-based Hamm Quarry, met with county commissioners, county engineer Bill Green and road superintendent Mel Sewell to discuss a $30,000 bill that Hamm submitted for removal of “overburden” at the county quarry.

Hamm was awarded a $1.2 million bid last year to remove and crush rock for the county from the quarry. The rock typically fills most of the county’s rock needs for three years.

The June 6, 2005, bid from Hamm states the “prices do not include any stripping of overburden.”

Although the bid was awarded to Hamm, no contract ever was signed between the parties.

Representatives of Hamm had met with Sewell at the quarry before beginning any stripping, Gonzalez said.

“We didn’t really talk about paying for or not paying for stripping,” Gonzalez said, noting Sewell may well have not known about the stripping charge.

Commissioner Clyde Graeber noted the cost had not been included as a line item in the county’s 2006 budget.

Commission chairman Dean Oroke suggested the possibility of paying a $1,000 per month surcharge for quarried rock. The agreement with Hamm in the past has been that the county pay for the quarried rock as it is used, not in lump-sum fashion.