Rib Lake village board OKs paying engineer more for water tower
The Rib Lake Village Board approved a pay increase for the engineering firm for the upcoming water tower rehabilitation project.
The tower rehabilitation, set to take place next summer, is projected to cost about $700,000. The village applied for and received funding through the DNR Safe Drinking Water Principal and Forgiveness program. Under that program, the cost of 50% of the project will be forgiven with the remaining 50% financed through low interest loans. Up to $392,950 was approved for loan forgiveness with an equal amount of low interest loans.
The actual amount will vary depending on the bids and construction costs. The bids will be published on March 5, with bid opening on March 26 and the contract to be awarded on April 9.
Project manager Phil Kriesel of MSA, was at the February 12 meeting to review the project and to let the village know the portion for engineering costs was going up $5,970. This, he explained, is due to delays in getting the funding secured and actual increases in cost incurred by the engineering firm due to those delays.
The engineering costs fall under the project costs eligible for the state funding program. Board members approved the increase.
Kriesel also presented the bids for the Second, Third and Church Street projects for the coming year.
Steen Construction was the low bidder with a bid of $1,159,585. The second low bid was from Switlick and Sons with $1,188,661. There were six bids for the project with the highest being from A-1 Excavating for $1,489,955.
The village received a community development block grant that will cover the bulk of the expense for the project.
Village president Bill Schreiner asked if it would be worthwhile to pursue getting grant funds from the state program for the remaining portion.
“Applying for that grant isn’t free,” said Kriesel, noting that MSA would need to charge for the time of writing a grant and to administer the grant with no certainty that it would qualify for any additional funding given the amount of requests for funds far exceeded the amount of funds available.
“If it was 50% bigger it would make sense,” Kriesel said of applying for grant funding. “The way things are I don’t think it is cost effective.”
Schreiner replied that he was asking to see if it was worthwhile to look at and noted that the village’s portion is sewer utility debt of $200,000 that will be retired over 20 years.
Board members approved awarding the bid to Steen Construction.
In other business, committee members:
• Approved renewal of the fire truck replacement CD of $41,823 and the insurance deductible CD of $33,614.55 when they come due at the highest rate the village is able to get for them. The village will not know the interest rate until Feb. 26. The fire truck replacement is funds set aside for replacing a truck. The insurance deductible is money the village keeps on hand to cover the property insurance deductible.
• Approved adopting updates and revisions to the village code book. This is a routine measure to bring the code book up to date with changes made since it was last reviewed. Changes were described as being minor.
• Approved granting permission to allow the Rib Lake Community Development Foundation to install three selfie stations around the village. This are tourismoriented improvements for people coming to the village to be able to set their phone to take a selfie in front a picturesque part of the village. They will be located at the park, Ice Age Pavilion and on Pine Island. The group will be responsible for the cost and installation.
