Mike Bubany, of David Drown Associates, kicked off the Spring Valley City Council July 8 meeting to discuss the upcoming street projects and the impact they will have on the community. In April the council, along with Bubany, workshopped through a vast amount of different financial scenarios so they could better plan for the future expense of the projects and to give them a visual of how these upcoming projects and expenses will affect the tax rates and the city’s total debt.
“Since that time Chris Rollie, from Public Utilities, reached out and said that if you were thinking about doing Tracy Road as one of your projects for next year, he would be interested in doing additional work where they have some water line replacement needs on Warren (Avenue),” Bubany explained.
Drew Weber, of Bolton and Menk, estimated the extra cost to be approximately $900,000, which would put the project at an estimated $1,700,000.
As Bubany showed the council the impact of the additional cost he stated, “It’s not a huge impact in and of itself that concerns me. It’s the layered affect of all of this.”
“The question is how big of a necessity is it to add Warren to the project,”council member Luan Ruesink asked.
Weber called the addition is a unique situation, “it would not be a waste of money to do, but when you look at other needs that is a conversation to be had and a decision to be made by the council. It would be okay not to do it, but you wouldn’t be wasting your money to do it.”
After much contemplation, the council determined the $900,000 would be better saved for other more immediate needs, so the council voted to keep Warren Avenue off of the Tracy Road project.
The council then approved a resolution receiving the report and calling for a hearing on street improvement.
Spring Valley Business Alliance
Spring Valley Business Alliance representative Dan Freeman expressed the groups interest in moving the Broadway Project forward.
“Part of the reason I wanted to come here today was to talk to you about 2025. One of the first things we’d like to be able to do is look at memorial benches and picnic tables,” Freeman shared.
He asked the council to help the group determine what benches and tables to go with for the space requirements and logistics, saying, “We want to make sure we are working with the city in the process.”
The alliance is also looking at having pillars constructed on the north end of downtown to serve as a a gateway entrance. In previous design concepts created by Bolton and Menk for the Broadway Project there were versions which included these pillars.
“We thought that might be a good place to start,” Freeman said. “Then we can start to do grant writing and do some fundraising. We see this as adding momentum to the project then the enthusiasm could carry down the rest of the two blocks.”
To do this Freeman asked the council for a letter of support for the grants as the alliance would like to begin applying as soon as possible.
Weber noted, “With the construction of the pillars there would also likely need to be in conjunction with construction of new concrete curb and gutter. The scope might be bigger than just the pillars.”
Ruesink pointed out there is construction work that needs to be done to Broadway Avenue before projects like this can begin, “I think we might be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves in talking about the pillars and that part.”
Mayor Tony Archer expressed his concern, “With the project that you’re looking at we gave permission to go ahead and do a demonstration and after that demonstration is done then the survey has to go out to see what the community thinks about it. This construction stuff needs to be set aside for now. I like to see things being done but we need to make sure we’re doing the demonstration, then the survey and to really find out how much it is going to cost. I can see it being more of a 10-year project, honestly, because there is a lot of stuff.”
Concerns were also expressed on if the alliance should be focusing only on the downtown instead of in an area that affects all the city businesses.
Freeman stated they would like to have signs made for all the entrances into Spring Valley, but they are not to a point where they want to bring their ideas before the council.
The council voted to table the project at this time with plans to have a work session to discuss the project in the future.
Staff reports
Public Works Director Chad Hindt informed the council they are continuing to clean up flood damage while they work on mowing, spraying, sweeping the streets, tree trimming and repairing signs.
Spring Valley Library Director Melissa Vander Plas shared that the library continues to have a busy summer with 125 summer reading participants and an average of 80 to 90 people attending their summer programs. A new concrete slab was recently poured in preparation for an outdoor handicapped accessible picnic table.
Co-Ambulance Director Mike Zimmer noted June was a busy month for the department with 37 calls. They have been working with Spring Valley Senior Living, Good Earth Village to provide staff with CPR training, as well as the Spring Valley Fire Department.
Zimmer informed the council the flooding caused some mold issues with the carpeting inside the ambulance building, so the flooring may need to be replaced in the near future.
Zimmer also addressed the council to discuss the purchase of a new ambulance. The department does a 10-year cycle for the ambulances and the next purchase was expected to take place in 2026. Unfortunately, Zimmer was informed it would take approximately 950 days to receive the ambulance if they order it immediately. The council approved the purchase of $356,900, including trade-in of their current ambulance, which will come out of the Ambulance Fund.
Fire Chief Dustin Johnson stated they were called to one motor vehicle accident, one garage fire, one Mayo One landing assist, one lift assist and assisting with road closures during the flood. The department has been working on their auto extrication training and they completed their hose testing.
Council members took a moment to thank the fire department, city crews, police, emergency management and all those who helped assist the city during the recent flood. Ruesink also thanked Ashley O’ Connell, Steve “Springy” Volkart and the Parks and Recs staff for helping to remove the water from city hall’s basement.
Other Business
The council voted to move forward with a new contractor, Durst Outdoor Services, for the downtown street striping at a cost of $17,135.14. The striping is expected to be completed within the week.
The council approved the additional purchase of mulch for the new playground equipment at Tower Park at the cost of $5,070.
Whispering Stream Sanctuary’s purchase of a lot within Countryside Acres was approved.
A resolution approving the decertification of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District one through 10 as this area no longer qualifies for the program.
A public hearing was set for August 12 to review the fence ordinance. According to city Administrator Deb Zimmer, this ordinance was in their old zoning codes but when they were updated, this ordinance was inadvertently left out.
All road closures were approved for the upcoming Ag Days festivities.
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