Ellendale City Council
By SCOTT GROTH
Contributing Writer
The Ellendale City Council met Thursday June 23, with Councilmen Helland, Reiter, Goebel and Groth. Mayor Engel was absent. Also attending the meeting were Wes Brown from Bolten & Menk Engineering, City Attorney Phil Kohl, Shannon Sweeney from David Brown and Assoc., Andy Bernau from Hill, Larson CPA, Maintenance Supervisor Roger Swearingen and City Clerk Steve Louks.
The agenda for the evening was approved as presented.
Wes Brown from Bolten & Menk was given the floor to review the bids for the remainder of the street projects. Brown told the council that the bids were tabulated on Tuesday June 14th, 2011. The following were the bid tabulations:
• BCM Construction, Inc. — $219,536.75 base bid; $36,820 alternate bid A.
• Heselton Construction — $237,851.10 base bid; $36,051 alternate bid A.
• Swenke Co., Inc. — $245,437.60 base bid; $51,395 alternate bid A.
• Elcor Construction — $249,009 base bid; $47,510 alternate Bid A.
Brown told the council the alternate bid was for ductile iron water main pipe (DIP). This was included due to the rumor that PVC pipe was in high demand and there could be a shortage, causing higher prices. Brown told the council the PVC did not come higher than expected and thought the city should stick with the PVC piping. After some discussion, the council passed Resolution 06-23-11-01, awarding the bid to BCM Construction, Inc.
The council next heard from Sweeney on the financing of all the projects currently being done within the city. Sweeney gave the council a draft of the financing he had put together based on the engineer’s numbers. Sweeney asked the council to come up with a figure he could use for the DNR part of the project. The council agreed to $15,000 for the city’s services. With that figure Sweeney told the council the amount to be financed with a $30,000 contingency would be $673,282.00. Sweeney told the council that with the council’s approval, he would try to use the state’s credit enhancement agency. The city could save up to $30,000 over the life of the loan. Sweeney also noted the payback is set up to start in 2013 with a tax levy of about $21,500. This is significant because the city has another debt service ending in 2012 of exactly the same amount. The new loan will run for 15 years at a rate of 5.5%. The council moved to pass Resolution 06-23-11-02, approving the issuance of G.O. Utility Bonds for the amount of $675,000.
Wes Brown passed along to the council that the pipe proposed to go under the railroad track has hit a little snag. It seems that Union Pacific leases the tracks from a land company. Brown was in contact with the company, Hawkeye Land Co., and they sent him a crossing agreement. Brown gave the document to City Attorney Kohl for review. Kohl told the council the agreement raised some concerns on behalf of the city. Kohl reviewed those concerns with the council. After some discussion, the council decided to have Kohl make some changes and have Brown present them to the land company. The council hoped that both parties could reach an agreement to keep the project moving along.
Bernau presented the council with the 2010 audit. Bernau went through the various funds within the city. Bernau noted that for the most part the city is sitting in good shape. The liquor store will need to hold a public meeting, as the store showed a loss in two of the last three years. Bernau did have a few concerns for the council to review.
The council approved the minutes from the June 9, 2011 meeting.
The council approved the claims, financial, investment and disbursements statements.
Louks, with his report for the evening, started with a request from Summer Rec. The council felt strongly to support the program and moved to fund the same amount as last year.
The next meeting of the Ellendale City Council will be July 14th at 7:30 p.m.
