Mahoning Township's board of supervisors decided to reopen bids for a bridge repair project during Wednesday's meeting, with the hope that a wider timeframe for the project will attract more offers.

The Rex Road bridge currently needs to have its wooden deck replaced and widened, along with some routine maintenance.Previous efforts to bid out the project have met with disappointing results."We bid last year, and we bid this year again. We had one bid that was double what we had the money for, so we redesigned it, and we ended up without any bidders the second time," Supervisor Bruce Steigerwalt said.Steigerwalt said that he had recently been contacted by Ryan Richards of Carbon County Planning and Development, who told him that the board could opt to reopen bids if they wished.The board extended the length of the proposed project from 120 days until Oct. 31, 2018, as they suspect that the narrow timeframe in a busy road work season may have prevented many companies from putting in a bid.Steigerwalt said that he would be in touch with Richards to restart the process as soon as possible."We just hope we get some bids," Steigerwalt said.The board also accepted a letter of resignation from Supervisor Brian Reeser, effective July 11.In the letter, Reeser said that his current work schedule did not allow time for him to attend the monthly meetings."I would like to thank Brian for his service. It's a shame his work schedule changed. Now we're short another supervisor, but he has to work, so I would like to thank him for his service," Chairman Franklin Ruch said.The board has not yet selected a nominee to take Reeser's position.The board passed a motion to pay the recurring annual licensing and maintenance service agreement for the Metro/Alert software, which is used by the township's police department, from Aug. 5, to Aug. 8, 2018, for a fee of $1,808.