Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry Commissioner Jeff Eggleston and Chief Clerk Pam Matve look over some of the seven proposals Warren County received from firms hoping to be the county’s next engineering service.

With several construction projects on the horizon, the Warren County Commissioners are looking to sign an engineering service to work with the county.

They advertised and at Monday’s work session, Commissioner Jeff Eggleston and Chief Clerk Pam Matve checked out the catch.

There were seven applicants from far and wide.

“I’m surprised we cast such a wide net,” Eggleston said. “I’m really glad we got so many good bids.”

Some of the bidders were familiar. Former county engineer E&M Engineers and Surveyors out of Bradford, Stiffler McGraw of Titusville, and CPL Architecture, Engineering, and Planning of Jamestown, N.Y., are no strangers to the county. Others were not based so closed to the county — Mackin Engineering of Pittsburgh, the EADS Group of Altoona, Herbert, Rowland, and Grubic of Harrisburg, and Remington and Vernick Engineers of Haddonfield, N.J., also threw hats in the ring.

The request for proposals for the engineer was not the same as a bid process. Making a decision won’t be a purely apples-to-apples comparison as the winning firm will be working on multiple projects.

“We’ll take these and review the rates and the qualifications,” Eggleston said.

The new engineering service will become involved in the county’s planned extension of the Bike/Hike Trail.

Initially, that means “completing the next phase — getting us into the former Warren Mall location,” County Planner Dan Glotz said.

After that, the work would begin to look into alternatives for extending the trail to the north, Glotz said.

There are other projects on the table and the county will also have American Rescue Plan funds to devote to projects.

Eggleston said he hoped to be able to have a recommendation on the agenda for the commissioners’ regular meeting on Wednesday.