City council to seek bids for building projects

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- After a briefing on final plans for the three referendum building projects, the City Council voted Tuesday night to advertise for bids on the new Fairgrounds Community Center, the Senior Center expansion and the Family Recreation Center remodeling.

Bids on the combined project will be opened Tuesday, Dec. 11, at 1:30 p.m. The council also set Thursday, Nov. 29, at 1:30 p.m. as the bid opening date for the Fairgrounds Community Center ice rink and equipment which will be obtained on a lease/purchase contract.

"What we're looking for a combined base bid on the sales and use tax referendum projects of $10,192,000 or less," architect Ted Rozeboom told the council at its informational meeting earlier in the afternoon. Rozeboom Miller Architects of Minneapolis has been handling all the design work on the three projects.

Not included in that figure is the estimated $970,000 in ice mechanical equipment and dasher boards for the ice arenas at the Fairgrounds Community Center. The city will obtain that equipment on a seven-year lease/payment contract, with an annual payment of nearly $200,000.

The lease/purchase transaction, combined with $400,000 in general obligation improvement bonds, as well as a 5 percent contingency fund, brings the overall project cost to $11,731,000 which is what the city has budgeted for the three projects.

Also to be bid, along with the base construction are alternates totaling $840,000.

Rozeboom told the council it would take a week for staff and the architects to review the bids and to consider various combinations of base bid and alternates so that the council could make a decision Dec. 18.

Rozeboom said the council would then have the option of rejecting all bids or accepting the base bid and/or a combination of alternates.

"Don't forget there are deduct alternates as well as add alternates," Rozeboom explained, "so you have a number of options."

Based on the bid-letting schedule, he is projecting a March 2003 completion date for the Fairgrounds Community Center and the Senior Center addition, "with the Vogel Arena project completion 90 days thereafter."

Following considerable discussion of options, the council voted to have its staff prepare to handle a possible flood next spring because past floods have been handled while authorizing staff to study the potential of a long-range solution of buying out affected property owners along Front and Valley streets.

Street Commissioner Tom Patterson reported the total cost of the 2001 floods, including regular time wages, was $269,660 with an expected FEMA reimbursement of $211,335. In comparison, the total cost of the 1997 flood was $292,197, of which $283,433 was reimbursed.

For the councilors who were concerned about FEMA not reimbursing on future floods, Patterson said he felt that if the city was making attempts to reach a permanent solution, either permanent berming or buyouts, FEMA would continue to reimburse "at least for another time or two."

The council approved the city's schedule of licenses, permits and miscellaneous charges and Park and Recreation program fees and facility charges for 2002. In discussing the motion, Councilor Joel Albrecht who organizes the annual German American parade said, "As long as the parade permit doesn't go up substantially, I can support it."

The council accepted a $2,700 grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council to be used in restoring the city's Wanda Gag art collection, and approved re-appointment of David Christian as first assistant fire chief and Elwood Zabel as fire marshal and appointment of Curt Curry as second assistant chief.

It also renewed its snow removal agreement with Nicollet County for clearing snow from Highway 37 between the Minnesota River bridge and U.S. Highway 14 through March 2002.