Marshall Approves $64,759 Payment for ZF Circuit Repair

Marshall City Council | August 24, 2026

Article Summary: The Marshall City Council unanimously approved a $64,759.61 payment to BH Electric, LLC on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, for repair to what the agenda and minutes call the ZF Circuit — work the contractor’s own invoice bills under the project heading “City of Marshall Pole Replacement.”

BH Electric Payment Key Points:

The approved amount, $64,759.61, is the full total of BH Electric invoice No. 2394, dated Aug. 6, 2026, on Net 30 terms.

The invoice is entirely labor and equipment time: 89.5 foreman hours at $152.07, 268.5 journeyman hours at $144.68, and four equipment lines.

The invoice’s project field reads “City of Marshall Pole Replacement,” while the council approved “payment for repair to ZF Circuit.” A handwritten note on the invoice reads “ZF Repair … Circuit.”

No materials, pole count, work dates or location appear on the invoice, and no document in the packet expands “ZF.”

MARSHALL — The Marshall City Council on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026, unanimously approved a $64,759.61 payment to BH Electric, LLC, the largest single payment authorized at the meeting other than the monthly bills.

Alderman Foster Propst moved to approve the payment for repair to the ZF Circuit; Alderman Jarod Green seconded. Upon roll call, all council members voted in favor and the motion carried.

The supporting document is invoice No. 2394 from BH Electric, LLC, of P.O. Box 428, Carterville, dated Aug. 6, 2026, billed to the City of Marshall at 201 S. Michigan Ave. on Net 30 terms. The project field at the top of the invoice reads “City of Marshall Pole Replacement.”

The charges are all time-based. The invoice bills 89.5 foreman hours at a rate of $152.07 for $13,610.27; 268.5 journeyman hours at $144.68 for $38,846.58; 126 hours of a 55-foot bucket truck at $46.91 for $5,910.66; 89.5 hours of a line truck at $42.64 for $3,816.28; 89.5 hours of a half-ton pickup at $20.25 for $1,812.38; and 89.5 hours of a pole trailer at $8.53 for $763.44. The six lines sum exactly to the invoice total of $64,759.61.

Labor accounts for $52,456.85 of the bill across 358 combined foreman and journeyman hours, with the remaining $12,302.76 charged as equipment time. The invoice carries no line for materials, no count of poles set or replaced, no work dates and no street locations.

Two Descriptions of the Same Work

The record describes the job two ways. The agenda item and the motion recorded in the minutes both authorize “payment for repair to ZF Circuit.” The invoice itself describes the project as pole replacement. A handwritten annotation in the body of the invoice reads “ZF Repair,” followed by a struck word and the word “Circuit.”

The documents do not state whether the circuit repair and the pole replacement are the same job, or how they relate. Nothing in the packet explains what “ZF” stands for or where the circuit is located.

The invoice is the only exhibit for the item. There is no contract, purchase order — the P.O. number field is blank — work authorization, emergency declaration or storm reference in the materials, and the minutes record no discussion of the work before the vote.