City will pay for Seventh Street archaeologist
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
The archaeological monitoring that delayed reconstruction of Fourth and Seventh streets will be paid for by the city rather than the project's funding, city engineer Jake Zimmerer said, though the city has asked the state to help cover it.
The City Council on Sept. 1 hired Bear Creek Archaeology to be on call for a one-block portion of Seventh Street at $875 per day, with an anticipated cost of $11,375. In response to written questions from the Times-Reporter, Zimmerer said the expense would fall to the city, and that the city is asking the Iowa Economic Development Authority to consider additional funds to help cover it.
The monitoring requirement grew out of an archaeological report the city had to complete to qualify for Community Development Block Grant money, Zimmerer said. The findings of that report are what triggered the on-call requirement for the Seventh Street block.
What those findings were has not been disclosed. Zimmerer said the report is not available for public distribution because it contains site-specific information. He did not say what Bear Creek determined during its original work for the city, or what is believed to lie beneath that block.
During construction, Zimmerer said, the archaeologist will watch for artifacts, remains or similar material. Anything that is not organic or earth-type material would require the archaeologist's inspection, he said. If something is found, the archaeologist sends the findings to the state, which reviews them and directs what happens next. Zimmerer did not estimate how long that review could take or what it could add to the project's cost.
At the Sept. 1 meeting, council member Aaron Tuttle asked what would happen if human remains were uncovered. Mayor Roger Marshall said he had been told all work would stop within 100 feet of the find until a bio-archaeologist could determine the age of the remains, which he said would take a couple of days.
No other state or federal reviews or requirements are anticipated at this time, Zimmerer said.
The city now intends to bid the project this fall. The awarded contractor will be required to mill down the existing asphalt on both segments to remove potholes and make plowing easier over the winter, Zimmerer said. Water main work may begin during the winter depending on the contractor, and street work would start after the water main replacement is finished.
Zimmerer told the council on Sept. 1 that Dec. 1 was a best-case start.
"I'm guessing it's gonna be after the 1st of the year," he said at the meeting. "February, March, get the water main in and start the paving after that."
