FARMINGTON --The county commission opened the bids for the new Centerville library branch last week, with Ascent Construction of Cen-terville the low bidder among 15 other companies. The bid of $1,375,500 was about $200,000 under the county estimate for the project, slated for groundbreaking within the next month or so. Jerry Meyer, assistant director of the Davis County library system, said county officials are reviewing Ascent's bid in terms of developing a contract for the project.

"It's assumed the contracts will be signed soon and construction will proceed fairly soon after," said Meyer. "We've been aiming at opening the library around April of next year."

The bid is for construction of the building only, and does not include other materials such as books and library furnishings.

Ascent Construction built the Syracuse branch library, which opened in August 2003.