Council holds hearing on bridge demolition

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City Council held three hearings on projects around Charles City, including one on the Charley Western Trail Bridge demolition project.

There were no residents present at the hearings.

The council received eight bids from companies to demolish the Charley Western Bridge, which partially collapsed in April 2017.

“The project will include taking down the bridge arches and removing the abutments and piers to at least one foot below the existing grade and streambed,” according to council documents.

The project includes demolition of the entire bridge and the transportation of remains to the Shaw Avenue dump site.

Useable concrete will be stockpiled at the dump site for later use.

The trail leading to the bridge, made up of approximately 50 feet of asphalt on both sides, will be removed and barriers will be placed to alert trail users to the removed bridge.

The project is estimated to cost $400,000. Lodge Construction put in a bid of $267,910.40 and was recommended and approved to take care of the project.

This would be Lodge Construction’s first Charles City contract, said Charles City Engineer John Fallis.

The project was delayed last year due to the possible presence of endangered wood turtles in the area.

The other projects included a 2018 sanitary sewer lining project and the First Avenue Bridge improvement project.

The First Avenue Bridge project’s projected cost was $268,000. The city received seven bids for the project.

First Avenue bridge’s project will include the removal of sections of the bridge deck that has become delaminated.

“The remaining surface will be milled and a new driving surface will be replaced,” according to council documents. “In addition to the work on the bridge deck, a traffic barrier rail to separate pedestrians from the roadway traffic” will be installed.

The existing handrail on the sidewalk’s north side on the bridge will be replaced with chain link fencing.

The contract for the project went to Wick’s Construction at $214,932.74. Wick’s is an agency that the city has worked with before.

The funding for First Avenue Bridge’s improvement is coming from the local option sales tax, Fallis said during the meeting.

Miscellaneous

Elizabeth Thyer with Gardiner Thomsen Certified Public Accounting firm presented the fiscal year 2017 audit report to the council. 

The council discussed and voted to approve the purchase of a pool heater for the Lions Field Pool.

The city also voted to clean up the language to allow for the change from bags to totes for solid waste collection. There is language to have the totes out 24 hours prior and 24 hours past pick-up.

Immediately following the meeting, the council held a staff budget session to review the fiscal year 2019 budget.

Charles City has applied for an Iowa Partner for Conservation grant to fund a staff person to oversee the Upper Cedar Watershed Management Authority and RCPP.

“We should hear in the next couple months whether that gets funded,” said Charles City Administrator Steven Diers.

Ginny Titus, Charles City deputy clerk, assisted the council in place of Charles City Clerk Trudy O’Donnell.

Mayor Dean Andrews reappointed and appointed members of the Planning and Zoning Commission, Historic Preservation Commission and Upper Cedar Watershed Improvement Authority.