City commission approves extending water main to serve future businesses
CITY COMMISSION
Extending the water main from College Drive, multiple professional service agreements with Campbell and Johnson Engineers, PA, and replacing the roof of the Brown Grand Theatre were among the action items voted on during a busy meeting of the city commission on Wednesday.
The city of Concordia intends to extend the water main from College Drive north to 21st Street. This will serve future businesses on the west side of U.S. Highway 81 and correct service connection issues for an existing business. An initial cost estimate obtained from Campbell and Johnson Engineers, PA was $240,170 for this extension.
Also, the city intends to replace a broken water main located under Highway 81 at 19th and Lincoln that was discovered in December 2021. The only way to remedy the problem is to horizontal bore a new line from the east to the west side the highway, which requires specialized equipment.
A bid opening was held for both projects on November 29th at 10 a.m., with three bidders: MiddleCreek Corp. of Peabody, bid $362,242.00; Nowak Construction of Goddard: $370,794.50; and Orr Wyatt Streetscapes of Raytown, Mo., the low bidder at $258,308.25
Upon the recommendation of Jeremy Arnold, utilities director, and Campbell and Johnson Engineers, PA, the city commission voted to authorize city manager Amy Lange to sign a contract with Orr Wyatt Streetscapes in the amount of $258,308.25. The start date for the project is January 9, 2023, with a completion date of June 9, 2023, weather permitting.
The city wants to develop a new residential subdivision on land recently donated to the Concordia Land Bank and located near the intersection of West 11th Street and Highland Drive, the former site of the hospital.
Establishment of this new residential subdivision was included in the FY2023 capital improvement program (CIP).
The city applied for a Moderate Income Housing (MIH) grant from the State Department of Commerce in an effort to address a shortage of moderate-income homes in Concordia, which also included the use of Rural Housing Incentive District (RHID) to pay for anticipated bonds to be issued to construct the public infrastructure to serve these new homes.
During its November 16 meeting, the city commission directed staff to proceed with platting and infrastructure design. The property must be replatted into lots appropriately sized for residential development. Additionally, the lots donated to the Concordia Land Bank south of Sunflower Drive should be replatted to clearly accommodate four homes.
The platting process includes a boundary and topographic survey, as well as the establishment of street rights-of-way and utility easements. Work will be coordinated with the demolition of the old hospital building.
The city commission voted to authorize Lange to sign the agreement for surveying services with Campbell & Johnson Engineers, PA to plat St. Joseph Subdivision and replatt Lots 1-7, Block 2, Lost Creek Hills Addition in the amount of $9,950.00, to be paid from city CIP funds
After the platting of the property is complete, the public infrastructure required to support new home construction must be designed and built. This infrastructure includes streets, utilities, and stormwater management. This work will take 9-12 months to complete. Completion of private utility extensions will be the responsibility of each utility, and will require coordination during the design and construction of the public infrastructure.
By unanimous vote, the city authorized city manager Lange to sign an agreement with Campbell & Johnson Engineers, PA for engineering services to develop public infrastructure to serve St. Joseph Subdivision and Lots 1-7, Block 2, Lost Creek Hills Addition, in the amount of $206,853.00, to be paid from American Rescue Plant Act (ARPA) funds.
In further action, the city commission also voted to authorize a professional services agreement with Campbell & Johnson, Engineers PA for the design and construction observation of Project ST-2023-K-9, which will be tied to Project ST-2022-K-9 – Mill & Overlay.
Campbell & Johnson, Engineers PA will be providing design for the alignment, quantities, and construction of an asphalt mill and overlay of K-9 Highway from the west side of Archer Street to the west side of Cloud Street, as well as construction staking as needed and construction inspection for
the construction portion of the project. The total cost of the services agreement is $30,000.00.
Upon the recommendation of Fuller Bates, the director of public works, the city commission voted to enter into a consulting services agreement with the Benesch Company of Manhattan to add the additional work that was done relocating the box hangar to a new location north of the existing apron at Blosser Municipal Airport-CNK.
Benesch is responsible for revising and updating the engineer’s design report to reflect changes to the project location, revise and update the plans and specifications to reflect changes to the projects location, and having additional coordination with sub-consultants to ensure the project is designed correctly for the new location. The total cost of the consulting services agreement is $9,745.
The Brown Grand Theatre has had ongoing and significant problems with its roof. The historic building is owned by the city and managed by the Brown Grand Opera House, Inc. Per the management agreement, the cty is responsible to insure the building, paying the utilities, maintaining the building envelope, and for repairs to the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire alarm systems.
Several roof leaks were discovered and repaired over the last few years, but new leaks continue with each rain. The roof also sustained hail damage during a storm in April.
Insurance will pay the replacement cost value of $58,854.21 upon completion of the project. Replacement of the roof was added to the CIP list for FY 2023 with an allocation of $48,768 based on a March 2022 estimate.
On November 4, bid solicitations were sent to Bill’s Roofing and Exterior, BPR Commercial & Residential, Eco Solutions Inc., Erickson Contracting Inc., Geisler Roofing & Home Improvement, Little Apple Roofing LLC, Mares Roofing & Restoration, McGee Roofing, and Wray Roofing Inc.
Bid submissions were also advertised on the city’s website and in The Blade-Empire newspaper.
A bid letting was held on November 29, 2022, at 2:00 p.m. By unanimous vote, the commission approved the bid from Eco Solutions, Inc. for $150,315 to replace the roof.
The city will continue its audit services with Jarred, Gilmore & Phillips for the year-end December 31, 2022 audit. By unanimous vote, the commission authorized Mayor Ashely Hutchinson to sign an audit engagement Letter with Jarred, Gilmore & Phillips for the year ending December 31, 2022, in the amount of $13,000 for regular audit services, and $2,100 for the federal single audit.
The following businesses were approved for cereal malt beverage licenses: Wood Oil #27; Rod’s Thriftway; Short Stop #4 and #10; Walmart; Gambino’s Pizza; Pizza Hut; Casey’s General Store; Dollar General #6503; Country Honky Tonk; and 4 Kids Fuel & More.
Upon the recommendation of Fire Chief Eric Voss, the city commission voted to approve funding to have the ladder of the new ladder truck galvanized dipped and painted by Rosenbauer Firefighter Technology for the amount of $10,538, to be paid from the Equipment Replacement Fund.
The Concordia Fire Departmennt intends to use the new ladder truck for the next 25 years. Having the ladder galvanized ensures the structure of the ladder for that time period and prevents rusting. The base section will also be painted since it is subject to the elements and the galvanizing will darken with time.
The commissioners also recognized Kim Weisner for serving over 30 years on the Housing Board.
The commissioners then met twice in executive session. No further action was taken, and the meeting was adjourned.