SPICER -- The Spicer City Council is cautiously making progress on the Lake Avenue South project while waiting for federal easement confirmations.
During Wednesday's regular meeting, the City Council postponed the Lake Avenue South project open bidding date from July 18 until July 21, a move contrary to a June 13 action by the council.
Last month, the council planned to open the bidding process in July despite needing federal easements for two parcels of land involved in the $3.6 million project. The two parcels, owned by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, were federally-funded properties and needed cultural surveys and federal easements.
In previous council business, City Engineer Randy Sabart said Spicer could open for project bids while waiting for the completed surveys of the land. After the surveys, he said, the city could proceed in a "phased scope of work" on the project while awaiting written federal approval.
According to Spicer City Clerk LaNae Osmond, Sabart reiterated to the council Wednesday the Lake Avenue South project could be broken into phases and Monday's opening for bids could commence.
ADVERTISEMENT
But instead of proceeding, Osmond said, the council postponed the open bidding date -- after more than an hour of discussion about the project -- because members were not comfortable accepting bids without the written federal approval.
Although the project bidding will be pushed back until July 21, the city's federal easement confirmations may not arrive by then, according to previous information from Greg Kimman, a colleague of Sabart's at Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc.
When Kimman informed the council in late May about the project's federal easement concerns, he said written federal approval could take up to eight months. Sabart could not be contacted Thursday for an update about the easement confirmations.
Osmond said if the project were broken into phases, work would start on the west end of Lake Avenue South.
One of the council's main concerns about phased work, Osmond said, was whether water retention ponds planned for the DNR properties would be needed before working on the project's phases. The ponds are crucial to preventing contaminated water of the project from running into Green Lake, Osmond said.
If the council were to permit phased work of the project, Osmond said, a few phases could begin sometime this summer.
