Shipley will 'summer'  in Mt. Pleasant again

By BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Shipley Construction of Burlington will continue to ?summer? in Mt. Pleasant. The firm has been awarded the contract for the final phase of the Washington Street reconstruction project, Jim Warner of Warner Engineering announced at the Wednesday night Mt. Pleasant City Council meeting.

?It was a very favorable bid,? Warner reported. The bid was approximately $2.1 million, he said, and was received recently by the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Shipley also was the general contracting recipient of the previous two bids for work done on Washington Street in 2010 and 2011. Warner said Shipley has indicated they will use as many local sub-contractors as possible. The final leg of the project is reconstruction through the downtown section from Locust to Marion streets.

Work could begin as early as April and will continue throughout the summer and fall. Work during the first two phases of the project ended in November.

DeLong Construction Inc. of Washington was awarded the bid for sanitary sewer projects in the Crossroads Business Park subdivision. The project is to accommodate the new Community 1st Credit Union and future businesses in the subdivision. The project will hook into the Heather Branch interceptor and extend north approximately 900 feet to provide sewer service for 14 acres of the subdivison.

DeLong, one of five bidders on the project, submitted a cost of $54,073.50, which was nearly $30,000 under the engineer?s estimate of $83,660. Bids ranged upward to $79,170.

Council members also set a public hearing for Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. to refinance up to $9.5 million of sewer revenue bonds. The money was previously borrowed from the state revolving loan fund and the city is paying 3.25 percent interest on the note for construction of the wastewater treatment plant.

With interest rates extremely low, the city thinks it can get a more favorable interest rate. ?Investors are not caring about how much money they can get back, they just want their money back,? explained Mayor Steve Brimhall. ?We just hope to get a one percent interest savings or more. Hopefully, this will be a very, very good deal.?

Piper Jaffray will serve as placement agent for the refinancing of the bonds.

In other agenda items, the council:

? Awarded a bid to Big Creek Construction for $2,430 for demolition of a city-owned house at 305 N. Hamlin St. Work is expected to begin in early February.

? Approved the hiring of Daniel Koller for the position of public works maintenance worker. Koller will begin work Jan. 30, 2012, at a salary of $26,000.

Council members meet again in regular session Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m. in City Hall.