Abby awards engineering contract for Linden extension
By Kevin O’Brien
With Witmer Furniture planning another expansion, the Abbotsford City Council last week approved an engineering contract for extending Linden Street to the east.
MSA Professional Services offered the lowest of two bids, $20,600, to draw up plans for paving 400 feet of gravel roadway and adding an extra 170 feet on to the end East Linden Street, which runs between Witmer Furniture and A-Team Machine east of 11th Street. The only other bid was submitted by Cedar Corporation, which offered to do the work for $30,800.
DPW Craig Stuttgen said Witmer Furniture is interested in expanding again, possibly adding 60 employees, so the city would like to accommodate the company’s growth and also add infrastructure for future development in the industrial park. Stuttgen said paving the eastern end of Linden Street has been on the city’s five-year plan for awhile, and Witmer has agreed to do all of the storm sewer improvements needed on their side of the road.
Stuttgen said the plan is to extend the water and sewer mains roughly 400 feet to the east and put in stubs on both the north side of the road to serve Witmer and on the south side to serve any business that would potentially build there in the future.
The engineering contract includes designing the project and staking out the construction area, but if any additional work is needed, the council would need to approve a change order, he said. Stuttgen said the only difference between the proposals from MSA and Cedar is the price.
“Both of them have worked for the city. They both do very good work,” he said. “We’re happy with both of them.”
Ald. Jeremiah Zeiset made a motion to accept the bid from MSA, with the contract not to exceed $20,600. The motion was was approved unanimously by the rest of the council.
The project, which will paid for out of the city’s annual capital improvement budget, is tentatively scheduled to be completed in
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2025.
Earlier this year, the city awarded Witmer a roughly $42,000 TIF incentive after it built a 20,000 square foot addition in 2022, allowing the company to add 20 new positions.
Other business
■ ■ The council approved a three-year contract with Cedar Corporation to do mandated environmental monitoring of the city’s landfill. The city will pay a total of $16,000 for the work, including $7,000 for the first year of the contract, which includes writing a fiveyear status report to the DNR, plus $4,500 year for the final two years. MSA submitted a competing proposal that would have cost the city $22,350, or $7,450 per year. Stuttgen noted that Cedar currently monitors the landfill and the city is happy with their work.
■ ■ During the monthly police department update, Ald. Sarah Diedrich said the Colby-Abby Police Commission recently approved a titanium tooth implant for the K-9 Hemi, who broke a tooth while biting on his kennel. The procedure, which is estimated to cost $5,000, is considered necessary, she said. The money will come out of the department’s K-9 fund.
■ ■ Stuttgen asked the council’s opinion on the new rope lights that were strung over Main Street after some of the old strings of lights wore out. Council members said they were generally pleased with the new lights but they asked about different color combinations, so Stuttgen said he would bring back more options for future years.
■ The council voted to add the house at 201 S. Sixth St. to a list of properties to be inspected for health and safety reasons. Soyk said the house has a lot of mold and standing water in the basement, but no one appears to be living there at this time.
■ ■ The council passed a series of motions related to the recently completed construction of wells 28 and 29, including a final pay request of $411,000 from Haas Sons for the work it completed. The council also approved a $6,150 reduction in CTW Corporation’s contract amount for well drilling and a $12,575 contract reduction for Haas Sons. Soyk said the biggest reduction came from not having to bore a 12-inch water main that was originally planned for the project.
Soyk said the city has received test results from the DNR indicating that the water from the two wells meets safe drinking water standards, but the city is having some technical issues in getting the wells online.
■ ■ The council approved a final pay request of $33,374 from Haas Sons for work done on the Third Street project this past year. Stuttgen said the project came in under budget, partly because the city crew was able to do some of the work.
■ ■ The council authorized the closing of city hall at 1 p.m. on both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, which is routinely done every year due to lack of activity.
■ ■ The council approved $50 in Abby/ Colby Crossing Chamber of Commerce bucks as Christmas gifts for each of the city’s 15 employees, for a total of $700.
