Sturm provides city council members with Eastern Avenue upgrade update

Work is continuing relatively smoothly on the Eastern Avenue reconstruction project.
At the April 17 Red Oak City Council meeting, Dave Sturm, project engineer with Snyder & Associates, Inc. of Atlantic, shared an update on the status of the project, saying crews have been working on the water line portion of the project for around four weeks.
“As far as I know, access has been going pretty well. They’ve given everyone temporary access across the open pavement areas. That will change in the next few weeks as they rip out the rest of the pavement and start working on service lines across to each individual property, but they will still have reliable access to the property,” Sturm stated.
Sturm added the contractor had made a change order request for roughly $10,000 due to exploratory digging.
“They could not find the existing water main for over three days on the south end. Generally on a project like this, it may take a couple of hours or half a day, but this took considerably longer. The old mains did not have tracer wire, and the location shown on the city maps was not where the water line was. It was around 10 or 12 feet off,” explained Sturm. “It’s no fault of the city guys, they just kept digging, but they had to be very careful while digging to not destroy the main, as that would have potentially involved a boil order. The company provided an itemized list of the equipment used and the time. I don’t have an official change order with me, but I wanted to get the opinion of the council before it’s presented to the Iowa Department of Transportation, since this is a state-funded project and the DOT is the one who gives official approval for change orders.”
Councilperson Brian Bills asked if there were any real options available. Sturm said it could be argued, but he felt the payment was deserved by them since they spent the time and effort in finding the line.
Vacanti asked if there was any possibility of the state providing funding towards the change order. Sturm said since the change order was in relation to the water system, it was not eligible. Assistance in a change order would only be provided for the road and the graded work. Also, Sturm said the city got a favorable bid for the project, so even though there was an additional expense, the city was still in good shape.
Vacanti then asked how much of the project would be completed before the city’s next fiscal year began. Sturm was hopeful the entire project could be done.
“We’re still in April, and so I do feel the project can be completed by the end of June, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have any expenses in July, since they will need the month of June to complete it, and the substantial part of the project can be completed this fiscal year,” commented Sturm. “It’s a $750,000 project, and I would anticipate $500,000 to $600,000 being paid out this year.”
No further action was taken.
The council also held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance establishing a franchise fee on electric and natural gas energy providers. No oral comments were given, and the council noted one written comment submitted by Montgomery County Memorial Hospital.
The council then moved to discussion on two ordinances. An ordinance granting to MidAmerican Energy Company, its successors and assigns, the right and non-exclusive franchise to acquire, construct, erect, maintain, and operate in the City of Red Oak, a natural gas system and to furnish and sell natural gas to the city and its inhabitants and authorizing the city to collect franchise fees for a period of 25 years, as well as an ordinance granting MidAmerican Energy Company, its successors and assigns, the right and non-exclusive franchise to acquire, construct, erect, maintain, and operate in the city of Red Oak, an electric system, and communications facilities and to furnish and sell electric energy to the City and its inhabitants and authorizing the city to collect franchise fees for a period of 25 years.
Mark Reinders, representing MidAmerican Energy, was present at the council meeting. Bills asked that it be confirmed that the franchise fees could be updated at any point and time. For the purposes of passing the two ordinances, the fee was initially being established at 0%.
Reinders confirmed that fees could be set at any time. The only request was that once being established, they were not changed for at least two years.
The council held the first readings of the two ordinances renewing the city’s agreements with MidAmerican Energy. An additional reading of the ordinances took place at the special Red Oak City Council meeting April 24.