Street project pushed to spring; council hires archaeologist
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Reconstruction of Fourth and Seventh streets will not begin until spring, the city engineer told the City Council on Sept. 1, after a federal review requirement added an archaeologist to the project.
The council hired Bear Creek Archaeology to be on call for a one-block portion of Seventh Street at $875 per day, with a total anticipated cost of $11,375.
City engineer Jake Zimmerer said the State Historical Society and the Iowa Economic Development Authority are requiring the on-call archaeologist as part of an archaeological survey. Two proposals came back: Bear Creek at $875 per day and the University of Iowa's state archaeologist at $2,000 per day.
Council member Chris Gilpin questioned the gap, saying he had read the University of Iowa proposal and could not identify what accounted for the difference.
"To be completely honest, we don't see this enough to know a difference," Zimmerer said. He recommended Bear Creek, which performed the original archaeological work for the city, and said his office would schedule the work to limit the days the archaeologist is on site.
Council member Aaron Tuttle asked what happens if human remains are found. Mayor Roger Marshall said he was told all work would stop within 100 feet of the find until a bio-archaeologist could determine the age of the remains, a process he said would take a couple of days.
Zimmerer said the contract is the last item the state economic development authority needs before releasing funds, after which the city can set a bid date. Part of the work would mill Fourth and Seventh streets down to the base for the winter, and contractors may install water main during the winter if weather allows.
"Best case scenario, you could see December 1st," Zimmerer said. "I'm guessing it's gonna be after the 1st of the year. February, March, get the water main in and start the paving after that."
The council also approved a 30-day extension for the Longview Road drainage contractor, with no change in cost, and a payment of $34,390 covering part of the mobilization and tree removal. Zimmerer said the road may have to close completely for a few days when tie-backs are installed across it, and that the city would coordinate any closure with the school, EMS and the county.
Water billing
City Administrator Terry Colglazier said meter reads came back the previous day and a staff member spent the day working through the new billing system to get bills sent out. She said the city continues to find problems that prevent some meters from being read.
An accounting of expenses and revenue dating to the installation of the new system should be ready by the next meeting, she said. She said she can reconcile the bank account but is still determining why certain items remain outstanding and whether they were duplicated or entered incorrectly.
Colglazier said the city needs more cooperation from People Service, its contract operator, in retrieving identification numbers for meters the city cannot read, and that appointments city staff schedule with residents are not being kept.
"We need them to show up when they're supposed to show up," she said.
Gilpin said he would call the company. He also questioned whether it is meeting the staffing level required under its contract.
Later in the meeting, Gilpin said algae he first observed at the water treatment plant during a council orientation has not been cleaned up and has gotten worse. Colglazier said she raised it with the operator that day and that it had not been corrected. The company's contract expires next year.
Fire department apparatus bay
Brandon Fender said most items on the punch list for the fire department's apparatus bay are complete, with four ordered items still to arrive. The unresolved problem is condensation — from the gear dryer and from the furnace and air conditioning unit in the EMS room — along with gutters that do not drain, two damaged roof peaks and damaged sheet metal on the Highway 30 side.
Directed at the previous meeting to contact McKinnis Roofing, Fender said he spoke with a foreman Aug. 20. Neither was certain what the city's construction contract covers in terms of warranties and change orders, he said, and he is still researching how responsibility shifted among contractors.
The foreman referred him to an Omaha-based forensic structural engineering firm. Fender said he discussed the cost with the city administrator, including whether it could be drawn from remaining retainage, and described the condensation as a design problem rather than a warranty claim.
"It's not that they installed the gear dryer and the gear dryer quit working," he said. "It's just a design flaw. So we either pursue it or we leave it alone."
Marshall said the building was designed around the department's previous gear dryer and that the city chose to vent the replacement inside rather than pay more to vent it outside, on an engineer's advice. Gilpin disputed that, citing condensation in the EMS room that he said is unrelated to the dryer.
Council member Sherman Struble asked what would fix it.
"I don't care what, how it comes about," Struble said. "What's the solution to get rid of it?"
Fender said one option would be to enclose the mezzanine room housing the equipment so it draws conditioned air rather than humid air from the apparatus bay.
Gilpin said about four months remain on the warranty and that the city should exhaust its existing options before paying for a forensic engineer, given the possibility of a legal dispute. He said a contractor committed on Aug. 7 to repairing a gutter and had not done so.
The council took no action. Fender said the fire chief still intends to hold an open house next month.
Also at the meeting, Zimmerer said the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has asked the city for a more detailed plan to increase the capacity of its lagoons, and that he is gathering contractor estimates for removing sludge.
During public comment, resident Lori White told the council that a District Court has ruled the city violated her due process rights when it revoked her fence permit, in a case she said has taken nearly two years. White, who said she represented herself, gave council members a copy of the court's order and asked the city to adopt written appeal procedures and to place appeal rights on enforcement and revocation notices. No council member responded, and the meeting moved to the consent agenda.
