Charles City Council meets upcoming engineer, adjusts Main Street parking rules

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

The members of the Charles City Council were introduced to the city’s upcoming city engineer during their last meeting of 2022 on Monday.

At the meeting, the council was introduced to Brian Sullivan, who will be coming on board to take over the city engineer role from John Fallis, who said he is looking forward to retirement next year.

“John’s going to hang around in a full-time capacity until around April,” said City Administrator Steve Diers. “That will give us some good time to get Brian into the mix.”

Until then, Fallis will continue his work for the city, including bringing forward the final plans for the Garden Corridor Edible Arboretum Urban Conservation Demonstration Project and three bids for the project.

The low bid for the project came from Wells Hollow Landscaping of Waverly, coming in at $172,291.50, 23% below the engineer’s estimate of probable cost. Fallis recommended the council approve the low bid, with the inclusion of two addendums to the project adding an additional $6,120.

The project itself will be largely paid for through a $100,000 Water Quality Initiative Grant along with sponsored project urban practices funds, and local donations. The city’s out-of-pocket costs are expected to amount to about $20,000 for sidewalk replacement.

In other business, the council also held the third and final reading of the Unified Development Ordinance, which updates and replaces the city’s current zoning and subdivision ordinances. An ongoing project since 2020, the Unified Development Ordinance has been reviewed by the council since November with minor adjustments.

“There’s really not much more I can add at this time,” said Fallis.

With no further comments or questions, council approved the reading and adopted the ordinance.

The council also approved a resolution to address downtown parking issues on Main Street. As more people move into downtown residences, Main Street parking has become a concern for business owners as residents park in front of their buildings.

“We want to encourage them to use the parking lots on the backside of Main Street,” said Diers.

To that end, the council has adjusted the traffic control ordinance to restrict parking on the 100 and 200 blocks of Main Street to 90 minutes. At the same time, the city is also removing the restriction on parking from 2-6 a.m., to better accommodate businesses that are open in the late night and early morning.

Acknowledging that an increase in overnight parking in the parking lots will complicate snow removal, the city will address those problems as they come up and plans to revisit the matter entirely next year as additional parking areas are constructed.

Finally, the council approved the final payment for the Charley Western Trail Bridge Replacement Project. Originally bid in 2020 at $1,390,633.75, the project has been completed with an uncommonly narrow margin for the final cost. Out of 41 bid items, nine items saw an increase while five saw decreases, balancing out to a single change order in the amount of $679.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a $1.3 million project come to just $679 over plus get an award for it,” said council member Patrick Lumley.

The council approved a final payment of $30,725.80 to Godbersen-Smith Construction Company to close out the project.

With the holiday approaching there will be no more meetings for the remainder of the year and City Hall will be closed from Dec. 23 through 26.

The council will come back for its first meeting of the new year on Tuesday, Jan. 3, and hold the first budget workshop for 2023 on Wednesday, Jan. 4.