Council receives a surprise on repair estimate

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Rarely does an engineer?s cost estimate for a project come in under bid. Generally, it is the other way around and often by a large margin.

And that?s exactly how it played out for the air-piping replacement project at the Mt. Pleasant wastewater plant.

Meeting in regular session Wednesday, the Mt. Pleasant City Council awarded the project to the low bidder, Keokuk Contractors Inc., of Keokuk, for $248,800. Story Construction Co. of Ames, also bid on the project at a cost of $286,000. The estimate by Warner Engineering Associates of Mt. Pleasant was $173,000.

The project involves replacing and retrofitting in-ground piping at the wastewater plant. ?The piping is deteriorating and has gotten worse,? remarked Councilman Matt Crull. ?It is one of those ?we have to do this now? projects.?

City Administrator Brent Schleisman said the piping is the original piping for the plant. ?This is not a mandate from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, but it goes along with our plan (for wastewater plant renovations). We are losing air because of the piping and that makes our blowers work harder. We are basically protecting our investment.?

Engineer Jim Warner said the project was difficult to estimate, due to the amount of retrofitting among other things. ?I don?t have any explanation. We obviously underestimated the value of the work to re-arrange the piping in the blower building to make the pipes exit through the walls rather than through the floor and to separate the pipe headers so a blower can be dedicated to each of the sludge digester units,? Warner told the council.

Council members approved a three-year union contract between the city and the local police union. The union represents the entire department with the exception of the chief and lieutenant.

Under terms of the contract, which will run from July 1, 2017 until June 30, 2020, police department employees will receive a three-percent salary increase on July 1 of each of the next three years.

Changes in the health insurance portion of the contract include a $750 deductible for a single plan and $1,250 for a family plan. Co-insurance is 80/20 under both single and family. The maximum out-of-pocket expense is $1,000 for the single plan and $2,000 for the family plan.

The city pays the entire monthly premium for the single plan. For those desiring the family plan, the employee will pay 27 percent of the difference between the single and family premium effective July 1, 2017, 28 percent effective July 1, 2018, and 29 percent effective July 1, 2019.

There were also several minor language changes.

Schleisman said negotiations moved along quickly. ?It went very well. We only had two meetings on it. They gave a little and we gave a little.?

Stewart Services Inc., which has the contract for mowing Forest Home Cemetery, will also mow Old City Cemetery for the next three years and be paid $6,000 per year.

In other agenda items, the council set a bid letting of Jan. 10, 2017, and a public hearing and contract award for Jan. 11, 2017, at 5:30 p.m. for the Baker Street reconstruction project. In another maintenance item, the city also will accept bids until Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2017, and award the contract on Jan. 25, 2017 at 5:30 p.m. for the mechanical bar screen project at the Heather Branch lift station.

Finally, the council passed the third reading and approved an ordinance to rezone property at 104 S. Iris St. from highway commercial to general retail and commercial. Council members also passed the second reading approving an industrial tax abatement guarantee for the Hearth and Home building expansion.

Ron Archer, chief of police, in officer reports reminded residents of the 24-hour parking ordinance on city streets and in city parking lots. The ordinance says cars can?t remain parked in one place for longer than 24 hours. The ordinance helps with snow removal efforts in the city.

Mayor Steve Brimhall reflected that it has been a good year for Mt. Pleasant. ?We had a very good year in construction and completion of projects. It looks like next year will be a very busy year.?

Council members meet for the final time in 2016 at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 28.