Cedar Falls firm nets contract for 220th Street reconstruction

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Cedar Valley Corp. LLC, of Cedar Falls, nipped four other bidders to gain the first county road construction contract of 2016.

Henry County supervisors, meeting on Tuesday for the first time in the new year, approved a resolution awarding the contract to Cedar Valley for $3,849,653.76.

The work includes six miles of reconstruction work on 220th Street from the Highway 218-34 bypass, eastward to Racine Avenue. In mid-December, the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) received the bids.

Six firms bid on the project with the five lowest bidders separated by less than $150,000. The high bid was $4.7 million from Allied Manatts Group, LLC.

Jake Hotchkiss, Henry County engineer, had estimated a project cost of $4,461,052.95 and said he was pleased with the bids.

?The IDOT has a lighter year scheduled on paving this year, so that makes it a good year for county paving,? he noted. ?I thought the bidders were very aggressive and they were great bids.?

He said he expects work to begin in late spring, although no starting date will be set until the contract is signed by Cedar Valley. The engineer said the work will cause inconvenience, ?but we are looking at the long-term benefit.?

Hotchkiss also said, in a quarterly report, that his department has spent $2.1 million of its fiscal 2016 $6 million budget. Of the expenditures, $781,000 has been on road maintenance.

The secondary roads budget for sand and salt is $198,000 for the current year, and $16,000 has been spent, Hotchkiss said.

Regarding new construction, the county official said $1.2 million went to the Franklin Avenue reconstruction project from Salem to the Henry-Lee County line. Another $468,000 was spent for the Marsh Avenue bridge replacement work.

He said a considerable amount of local construction dollars (bridge, culvert, road work, etc.) will be spent this spring but some of the expense may carry over to the fiscal 2017 budget. ?Overall, I think we are in good shape,? Hotchkiss assessed.

In his weekly report, he said that road crews reported to work at 5 a.m., every day last week (except New Year?s Day) to continue working on clearing county paved and gravel roads.

?The gravel roads are still being worked on to remove ice, and I would caution drivers to be careful and drive according to the condition of the road,? Hotchkiss said. ?Territory operators (motor graders) will continue to work on picking ice (off gravel roads) as the week goes on.?

In his final item, Hotchkiss recommended a permanent five-ton weight restriction for sealcoat roads in Trenton. The recommendation was passed by the supervisors and includes the following streets: Ash Avenue between 1st and 5th streets; 2nd Street between Ash and Birch avenues; and 3rd Street between Ash and Birch avenues.

Steve Brimhall, treasurer of the Henry County Fair Board, presented the board?s fiscal 2017 budget request to the supervisors. The fair board is requesting $20,000 ? the same amount as in fiscal 2016.

Brimhall, also Mt. Pleasant mayor, submitted a summary of fair finances. The 2015 county fair had receipts of $60,870.16, $10,000 of which came from the state. Fair expenses were listed at $59,057, or a profit of just over $1,800.

The fair?s fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. As of Sept. 30, 2015, the fair had a fiscal-year ending cash balance of $57,242.58.

Topping the fair?s capital project wish list is a new air-conditioned building, Brimhall said. ?We would love to have an air-conditioned building that would hold about 100 people. That (lack of an air-conditioned building) is also one of the biggest obstacles Old Threshers faces.

?Unless some projects come up, we are saving our capital projects money for a big project,? Brimhall said. That big project could be an air-conditioned building, although a project like that hasn?t reached the drawing board.

Brimhall said the fair, like many other events in communities, depends a lot on volunteers. ?We have a lot of people involved in the fair on a volunteer basis,? he remarked. ?We have some good people who do a lot of work. The Extension office also does a lot of work. Basically, it (fair) is a big volunteer operation.?

In the only other agenda item, the board passed a resolution adopting the master matrix for 2016. The master matrix lists distances and other rules and regulations that must be followed when constructing a confined animal feeding operation (CAFO). Eighty-eight of Iowa?s 99 counties have the matrix. Seven of the counties that do not have the matrix are in the region and include Iowa, Mahaska, Keokuk, Washington, Wapello, Des Moines and Lee.

Supervisors meet again in regular session tomorrow (Thurs.) at 9 a.m., in the Henry County Courthouse.