The bids received shall be opened publicly by the board or the board’s designee at the place, date and hour named in the advertising notice, and shall be recorded in detail in the minutes of the board of county commissioners or a record kept for that purpose by the county clerk. All bids shall be considered and accepted or rejected. In case the work is let at such public letting or thereafter, the contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, or the board may, if it deems the proposals too high, reject all bids and readvertise the work as before, or it may let the work privately by submitting the contract, with a statement of the reasons for rejecting the bids at the public letting, to the secretary of transportation for approval, except that no contract shall be let at an amount exceeding 110% of the county engineer’s estimated cost or at a higher price than the lowest responsible bid received at the public letting. The opening of any bid by any person after the bid has been filed with the county clerk and before the time appointed for the opening of bids shall be a class C misdemeanor.