Cascade County Commissioners unanimously approved a $74,478 contract during a special Jan. 20 meeting to Shumaker Trucking and Excavating of Great Falls.

The contract is to make emergency repairs to the Sun River/Adobe Creek avulsion and riverbank in Fort Shaw where water is diverting into the creek, threatening damage to property and livestock, according to the contract materials.

Commissioner Joe Briggs said the project isn’t a complete fix, but a partial repair that “will keep us from having a far bigger problem between now and spring runoff.”

Staff asked three area contractors for bids since the bid amount was under $80,000, it didn’t require the public sealed bid process, according to Public Works Director Les Payne.

Commissioner Jim Larson said he’d hoped contractors would have gotten in the river two weeks ago, but the contracting process still takes time.

Staff said they were starting the project on Jan. 21.

“We need to get this done now,” Larson said.