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The Park Rapids City Council, on Tuesday, April 22, approved a preliminary engineering report and a cooperative construction agreement with Hubbard County on this year’s joint street and
utility project.
The project encompasses County State Aid Highway (CSAH) 1, or Central Avenue, north of State Hwy. 34 and several adjacent city streets.
City Engineer Jon Olson with Apex Engineering Group reviewed the engineering report for the council on March 25.
During a brief recap on Tuesday, Olson said the Minnesota Department of Transportation gave the go-ahead to receive bids for the project, with a bid opening set for May 20. He said this
would give staff a week to calculate project costs and projected assessments based on actual bid amounts.
“We won’t be talking estimates like we have been up to this point,” he said. “We’ll be talking real numbers.”
Olson proposed holding a public hearing on May 27 to receive citizens’ questions and comments on the project.
Olson described the cooperative agreement as “very standard” and said the county board has already approved it.
Two motions by council member Tim Little – one approving the preliminary engineering report and setting the May 27 public hearing date, the other approving the cooperative agreement – both
passed 5-0.
City Administrator Angel Weasner reported bids were opened April 16 on the municipal airport taxilane reconstruction project, and the airport engineering firm TKDA recommended awarding the
bid to Anderson Bros. Co. at $393,331.
A bid tabulation letter from TKDA Project Manager Matt Gustafson shows there were five additional bids, ranging from $443,008 to $767,645, from Craig Bardson Excavating Inc., Blombeck
Construction Inc., Northern Paving Inc., J.R. Ferche Inc. and Urban Companies.
According to Weasner, TKDA engineers examined Anderson Bros.’ quote and everything looked appropriate. On TKDA’s recommendation, Little’s motion to award the bid to Anderson Bros. passed
5-0.
The city council’s next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 13 at city hall.