City approves water tower bid
Plans for a new city water tower to be located on Shattuck St. north of Allman St. near the existing Well No. 10 moved forward Tuesday night.
At Tuesday’s city council meeting, aldermen formally approved awarding the project to Maguire Iron of Sioux Falls, S.D. with a bid price of $1,296,850. The formal action comes after the bids were reviewed during a committee of the whole meeting on September 21.
The water tower, along with the east side sewer interceptor, are the two final major projects of Tax Incremental District (TID) No. 13. This is a special taxing district that snakes along Hwy 13 north of Hwy 64 and includes the Medford Walmart. Taxes on improvements in the district go toward paying for infrastructure upgrades as identified in the district’s project plans.
Under bid terms, the new tower must be in operation by January 2022. The intent of the tower is to help address longterm water system issues on the north side of the city. The tower will be part of a separate pressure zone that will serve that area.
In another TID No. 13 project alderman also gave their formal approval to purchase a permanent easement across the Harold Miller property located to the east of the Taylor County Fairgounds. The easement cost is $5,000.
The eastside interceptor pipe will follow the river bottom that runs through the property. The sewer interceptor is a deep sewer collector pipe that will allow for gravity flow of sewage to the treatment plant without the need for lift stations.
In other business, aldermen:
_ Approved participation in the length of service award program for volunteer firefighters. Because firefi ghter payroll is handled through the city, the accounts needed to be set up through city action. This state program creates a type of retirement benefit to reward longtime firefighters and encourage people to stay on the fire department. It is hoped this will improve recruitment and retention efforts.
_ Approved the contracts for the engineering for next year’s street and utility projects. Projects planned for next year include: reconstruction of Shattuck Street from approximately 150 feet north of Highland to approximately 1,250 feet to the north city limits; water main replacement on Whelen Avenue from Water Tower to the wastewater facility’s driveway, this will be paid for from the water utility; and Allman Street from North Second Street to Jackson Street, to include curb and gutter and asphalt replacement.
_ Discussed working with the fire commission to pool available grant dollars from the Routes to Recovery program to purchase safety supplies for the fire department. The grant program was set up under the state and federal government’s COVID-19 response to help local governments with COVID-19 related purchases.
_ Approved spending up to $1,425 for the employee recognition lunch to be held on Dec. 9. The expense covers the meal and milestone awards for employees.
