Street improvements by former Sherman Nursery are complete

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council approved and accepted the final payment for the Grove Street/Illinois Street Intersection Improvement Project at Monday’s meeting.

The project was completed for at a total cost of $150,408.94, which is $15,762.69 above the original contract amount of $134,646.25. The final cost share will be $125,991.67 for the city and $24,417.27 for landowner Paul Rottinghaus.

At the time of the bid award and approval of the contract and bonds, it was determined that Rottinghaus would be responsible for the pavement and improvements on his property and the city would pay for the improvements within the public right-of-way. This project was precipitated when Rottinghaus acquired and started improvements at the former Sherman Nursery site. Heartland Asphalt was the general contractor.

City engineer John Fallis told the council that the project included removing existing pavement and storm sewer at the intersection, placing new storm sewer and additional intakes to collect stormwater runoff to direct it to Sherman Creek.

Heartland Asphalt also reconstructed the riprap embankment adjacent to Sherman Creek, removed existing damaged guardrail and replaced with new guard rail, replaced the pavement with new grades to direct the storm water runoff to the storm sewer intakes, according to Fallis.

In other business on Monday, the council voted to go into closed session to, according to the agenda, “evaluate the professional competency of an individual whose appointment, hiring, performance or discharge is being considered when necessary to prevent needless and irreparable injury to that individual’s reputation.”

After several minutes in closed session, the council then returned to open session and quickly approved a motion “to accept and ratify resignation of employment and release agreement.” Neither the name of the employee nor the position the employee held was publicly stated. The vote was unanimous.

In other business Monday:
— The council approved and and accepted the final payment for the 2020 Southwest Development Park Water Quality Initiative. The project was completed at a total cost of $363,265.50 which is more than the original bid amount of $331,974.50. Farm Tile Pro was the general contractor.
— Mayor Dean Andrews issued a proclamation, unanimously approved by the council, honoring Charles City High School student-athlete Mario Hoefer, recent recipient of the 2021 Stan Musial Award. Hoefer told the council about his experiences at a ceremony in St. Louis, which will be televised on CBS on Christmas Day at 4 p.m.
— The council held a public hearing, and having received no public comment, approved and held the second reading of an ordinance adopting new election precincts in the community. The only precinct change will be a small area located near Brantingham Bridge, which will impact less than 15 people. The council then voted to waive the third reading and voted to adopt the ordinance.
— The council approved and heard a second reading of an ordinance which would amend the city code to permit restricted usage of UTVs, ATVs and snowmobiles within the city limits.