Fairfield begins drawing down Walton Lake, but unsure if bridge can be replaced this year

FAIRFIELD – The City of Fairfield has begun drawing down Walton Lake to allow for replacing a golf cart bridge, but it’s not clear if the project can be completed before winter weather grinds it to a halt.

During the city council meeting Monday, Trevor Brown of Drish Construction said that even if he ordered the box culvert that day, he’d have to wait 12 weeks for it to be delivered. The city and Drish Construction agreed to replace the golf cart bridge with an earthen dam with an 8 by 10 foot box culvert at the bottom to allow fish and other aquatic life to travel through it, after originally planning to do a causeway with eight separate and smaller openings.

Both supporters and opponents of the bridge project have brought up Drish’s name in discussions, with supporters urging the city to abide by the terms of the contract it signed with Drish in March. City Attorney John Morrissey and Mayor Connie Boyer have stated that the city risks litigation if it does not follow through with the contract.

Opponents of the project, such as Ed Noyes, are not worried about a lawsuit from delaying it. Noyes said that since the DNR has still not granted the permit to construct a culvert, Drish Construction would have no grounds for a suit.

At Monday’s meeting, Brown said Drish Construction has had a great relationship with the City of Fairfield since 1932, partnering on “dozens of projects.” He said the company had to shuffle its summer construction schedule because of the delays from the DNR, which requested more information from the city before awarding the lake drawdown permit.

Brown warned that, if the city abandons this project now, it will set a concerning precedent for future infrastructure work with the city. He said most of Drish’s work is with municipalities, and the most challenging municipalities are those that make changes at the last minute, resulting in higher bid prices.

Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson told the council that it will take between 14-21 days to draw down the lake 11.5 feet, which is what Drish needs to remove the bridge and abutments. Council members asked her and Brown if the project could still be completed this year, if Drish was still 12 weeks away from receiving the culvert. Brown said that will depend on the weather, since sometimes the winter is warm enough that his firm can continue working into January, and other times they have to stop in early December. Council members Doug Flournoy and Terri Kness wondered if it made sense to start the project this fall if it could not be completed by winter.

The council also addressed the most recent hearing with an administrative law judge on Sept. 15, and an upcoming hearing scheduled for October. At the hearing on Sept. 15, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Augustine of the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals sided with the City of Fairfield and granted its request to lift the stay on the lake’s drawdown that the DNR had previously granted to Ed Noyes.

In response, Noyes has filed a suit against the City of Fairfield in district court hoping to put a stop to the project and the lake drawdown. The hearing on that suit is scheduled for Oct. 13, but Noyes said that it is too late because the lake will have already been drawn down by then. He told The Union Wednesday that he plans to file a preliminary restraining order against the city to pause the drawdown until the Oct. 13 hearing.

The public comment time at Monday’s meeting was unusually long and lasted almost three hours before the city moved onto other business beside Walton Lake. A few of the noteworthy speakers were Ed Hipp and French-Reneker-Associates Project Manager Marcus Clark. Hipp has been asking the city to reconsider its plan to install a box culvert and instead go with a cheaper bridge that won’t require drawing down the lake. Overman Steel and Fab of Joplin, Missouri, has provided a quote of $37,000 to build and install an 80-foot bridge in Fairfield.

Hipp said that, after learning the $37,000 quote did not include demolishing the current bridge and reinforcing the abutments, he told the council he has “some crow to eat.”

“I apologize to the city and everybody here for being so simplistic,” Hipp said about his earlier statements.

Nevertheless, after doing more research on bridges, their abutments and weight limits, he still hoped the council could find something less expensive than its $198,000 contract with Drish.

Clark, meanwhile, spoke with a representative of Overman to learn more about the company’s bridges and whether they would be suitable for Walton Lake. He said Overman is not licensed in Iowa, and the method it uses to test weight limits does not comply with Iowa Department of Transportation regulations. For instance, he said an 80-foot bridge from the company might have a weight limit of only 6,000 pounds instead of the 10,000 pounds the DOT requires.

Council member Paul Gandy asked Clark if he heard anything from Overman that would make him change his mind about the project and Clark said no, that he would still recommend the box culvert.

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Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com

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