The Wykoff City Council held a regular meeting on August 13. Council members in attendance included Lyle Morey, Mayor Al Williams, City Clerk Becky Schmidt, Mary Sackett and Mary Tjepkes. Richard Gleason was absent. Daren Sikkink, representing WHKS, and Ron Gregg, County Engineer, spoke to the council about the bids received on the planned “County 5” street project.
Sikkink showed an email from Ron Gregg which lists the bidders and the bidded amounts. Sikkink explained that, “We received some comments from contractors that a project for this fall, even though some could do it, it would be more expensive, and some said they wouldn’t even be able to bid it.” Because of this, the bids were divided into “Option A” and “Option B.” Option A is for a contractor to do the project this summer/fall as originally planned. Option B is for the project to be done in the spring/summer of 2020 (roughly mid-April to July). Sikkink said only two contractors submitted bids on doing the project yet this year, and those bids were notably higher (on average) than the five bids submitted for doing the project next year. The lowest bid was just under $1.2 million, from Alcon Excavating Inc, out of Rochester.
Because the project involves County Road 5, the city and county are each paying a share of the cost. Ron Gregg explained that he had met with the county board, and his suggestion to them was to accept the Alcon bid for doing the project in 2020, and the county board agreed, contingent on Wykoff accepting the bid as well. So he asked the city to consider also agreeing to this plan, since the total price would be roughly $300,000 lower in the spring. Gregg noted that the Alcon bid is roughly $27,000 below the engineer’s estimate for the cost of the project. The council voted unanimously to accept the Alcon bid to do the project in 2020. Due to the project being delayed, the special assessments and planned public hearing will also be “tabled” until next year.
Rick Whitney addressed the council regarding the ongoing problem of too much rainwater getting into the sanitary sewer system. He summarized that some of it is likely due to homeowners who have sump pumps that feed into the sanitary sewer, and he said another cause is water that leaks into the city’s manholes. He estimated the city has around 65 manholes, but said not all of them are a problem. He said if 15 or 20 of the manholes are leaking significantly, that could equate to hundreds of gallons of water per minute during a rainstorm. He suggested a type of “plastic dish” that can be installed in manholes, under the cover, to prevent most water from leaking through. The cost ranges from about $18 to $35 each, depending on type. Becky Schmidt said if the city bought and installed 30 such devices now, the cost would be roughly $2,000, whereas each time the water treatment plant floods, it costs several thousand more than that. The council voted to purchase and install 30 such devices for now, and will see if more need to be bought in the future.
Mary Tjepkes and Rick Whitney also talked with the county about possibly doing another “smoke test” to find areas in need of repair. Tjepkes said the most recent smoke test was in 2011, and the areas identified at that time still have not been repaired. Whitney stated, “On the day that we flooded, we took in 181,000 gallons of influent in a 24-hour period, and we’re rated for 44,000 gallons.” The council asked Whitney to get estimates on the cost of smoke testing the whole system, and another estimate for just smoke testing areas of concern.
Fire Chief Wade Baker addressed the council regarding a firefighter who will be moving to another community in the area. Baker said in the past, members of the Wykoff Fire Department were required to live and/or work in Wykoff, but he asked the council to consider allowing this firefighter to stay on the crew, since he has said he will still be able to answer fire calls from his daytime workplace, and because it can be challenging to find enough firefighters, especially on the day shift. The council voted to approve Baker’s request, and approved John Apenhorst to be the Fire Department’s Emergency Management Coordinator.
The council considered an estimate from O’Connell Excavating for several requested street “fixups” around town. After discussion, the council voted to approve a majority of the repairs. As noted on O’Connell’s estimate, the area on North Silver Street is too damaged, and Joe O’Connell said it’s not realistic to patch that area.
An issue regarding “peddlers” was discussed. Schmidt informed the council that a peddler had recently been in town, going door-to-door to sell cable TV service. She said a number of citizens complained. She said the city has an ordinance to address this, but she suggested creating a “Peddlers and Solicitors” application which would give city staff time to check to see that applicants are with a legitimate business. It was noted that this process does not apply to local solicitors such as church groups, nor to delivery routes such as Schwan’s. The council approved the application as suggested.
After discussion, the council agreed to approve WHKS to develop a concept for the old school property, in accordance with the city’s interest in possibly making lots there for homes. The approximate cost of this “concept work” was estimated at $500, according to Daren Sikkink. The meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m. The council’s next regular meeting will be Monday, September 9 at 7 p.m.
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