Charles City Council discusses Main Street Bridge assessment

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council discussed bridge inspection, City Hall renovations, housing authority separating and bicycle policy during its workshop meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

Options for potentially rehabilitating the Main Street Bridge began the discussion.

Experiencing degradation in the wake of this summer’s flooding, the bridge will be in need of repair or replacement sooner rather than later.

An initial feasibility study from engineering firm Calhoun Burns & Associates that focused largely on replacement was presented to the city last August. However the city’s Historic Preservation Commission recommended that the council seek more information about rehabilitating and saving the bridge before making any decisions.

The city has since requested information about options for rehabilitation, along with an inspection of the Main Street dam. Lowell Miller of Calhoun Burns & Associates called into the meeting to discuss what a more in-depth inspection would entail.

Assessing the bridge and dam would involve dive team inspections, core sample drilling, and concrete testing at an estimated cost of $115,244.50.

It was noted that about two-thirds of that cost will be for the inspection of the dam, with the rehabilitation feasibility study adding a relatively small amount to what would have already been done.

“We’re not just doing this to review the historical nature of the bridge,” said City Administrator Steve Diers. “This is something we’d be doing anyway.”

Moving on to a project on dry land, the council met with Dana Thomas and Kristy King of Bergland & Cram to review the nearly completed exterior design concepts for the upcoming City Hall/Police Department renovation project.

Looking at concept art for what the renovated building will look like, the council discussed finer details including the color of the bricks and windows, landscaping and how signage will look when approaching the building from different directions.

In other business, the council discussed the proposed separation between the city and Charles City Housing/Redevelopment Authority (CCHRA).

Once an independent entity, the CCHRA was taken over by the city in 1994 due to mismanagement. Now, 30 years later, the competing regulations for the city, state, and federal oversight have created cumbersome redundancies for CCHRA, costing time and money over concerns the city no longer has.

“I think the people we have in place are doing what they’re supposed to be doing,” said council member Patrick Lumley.

If separated into an independent entity, the city and CCHRA would enter into a 28E agreement for services and CCHRA’s day-to-day oversight would become the responsibility of the Housing Authority Board, which is appointed by the city.

One major issue yet to be resolved is whether CCHRA employees would be able to buy in to the city’s health insurance and other benefits once they are no longer officially city employees.

Finally, the council discussed several options for an update to the city’s policy about riding bicycles on public sidewalks.

“We stumbled across the ordinance and really couldn’t decipher what it meant,” said city attorney Brad Sloter.

Seeking to clear up the language in the city’s ordinance, a proposed amendment was drafted that would restrict bicycles on sidewalks in the downtown business area, creating a clearly designated area where riding on sidewalks would be prohibited.

However, the council noted that area includes several streets where bicycles are not only expected, but welcomed, such as the YMCA.

The council considered creating a more narrow list of prohibited streets downtown before council member Phillip Knighten questioned whether this was an issue that warranted an ordinance at all.

Ultimately, the council settled on changing the ordinance to allow the city to prohibit bicycles on sidewalks with signs in the event it’s deemed necessary.