City Council to consider change order, creek bridge agreements

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG
PCC EDITOR

FORT MADISON - A proposed change to the work being done on the trail running up 15th Street to Rodeo Park will add about $30,000 to the project if approved at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The Fort Madison City Council will consider a change order to the Fort Madison Community Hospital Community Foundation Trail project, the fourth one to be considered on the work, at Tuesday's regular meeting.

The city entered into the contract with Jones Contracting Corp. of West Point for $1,206,777. The current contract now stands at $1,292,725 after three previous change orders.

The current change order will increase the driveway thickness to match the existing concrete at Bates Sanitation & Asphalt, WM Johnson Truck Line, and Gethsemane Cemetery. It will also include adding a subdrain to dry the subbase, and replacement of sod at the cemetery.

The work at WM Johnson would be to insure a smooth transition for larger trucks into the facility. The previous planned level of concrete was too shallow.

The trail is part of the P.O.R.T. trail project, and according to a report from City Public Works Director Mark Bousselot, the P.O.R.T. commission has approved moving forward with the change order.

Some on the Fort Madison City Council have been vocalizing frustration with change orders that appear to have been forseeable in nature. Councilman Tom Schulz vented two weeks ago with another change order for the Amtrak passenger depot platform project, that he called "crappy work from a crappy engineering firm".

Klingner & Associates did the design engineering on the depot project, and several councilman and Fort Madison Mayor Matt Mohrfeld defended the firm saying they had made amends for some other issues earlier in the project.

HRGreen is the engineering firm for the trail project and submitted the change order on June 9.

In a related issue the council will also be considering an application to the Iowa Dept. of Transportation's Recreational Trails program for construction grant for phase IV of the P.O.R.T. trail for a 48th Street connector.

In other action, the council will be considering:
• a one-year contract renewal for SIEBUS services through the Southeast Iowa Regional Planning Commission at an annual cost of $8,500 to the city. Fares under the renewed agreement are $2.50 for a ride within the city, and $5 for rides between cities that use the bus. Anyone can ride the bus between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
• agreements with Calhoun, Burns and Associates for replacement of bridges at 27th Street over Dry Creek and Avenue F over French Creek.

change order, city council, fort madison, Jones Contracting Corp., meeting, news, Pen City Current, PORT trail

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