Douglas County commissioners on Wednesday named Scott Criqui as the county’s representative on the Joint Economic Development Council, a city-county business development agency that is managed by the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Criqui, who recently lost his bid for a seat on the Lawrence City Commission, will replace Jeremy Farmer, who is resigning because he won a seat on the commission.

Farmer finished second April 2 in the race for three seats on the city commission. He enjoyed the endorsement of Lawrence United, a new political action committee that was formed by several local business leaders.

Criqui, who was not endorsed by the PAC, finished fifth among the six candidates.

County Commission Chairman Mike Gaughan nominated Criqui for the seat. He said Farmer will serve on group for one last meeting, which is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Friday.

In other business, county commissioners approved two agreements related to development of a proposed sand pit dredging operation along the Kansas River near Eudora.

One contract is with Conestoga-Rover and Associates to perform a pre-dredging analysis of the underground water supplies near the site. The other is an agreement with Penny’s Aggregates, the company seeking the conditional-use permit, to reimburse the county for the estimated $59,392 cost of the study.

Commissioners also agreed to waive formal bidding procedures and use a purchasing cooperative to acquire three new ambulances from American Emergency Vehicles for $630,874. The purchase involves using a master contract that previously went through a competitive bidding process by the Houston-Galveston Area Council in Texas.