McGregor Council awards contract for Sixth Street Bridge Project
By Audrey Posten, Times-Register
The McGregor Council, at its July 15 meeting, awarded the contract for the city’s Sixth Street Box Culvert Rubidoux Drainage Channel Project to Tschiggfrie Excavating Co.
The Dubuque-based company’s bid came in at $331,815.25, 1 percent under the engineer’s estimated cost of $336,379.
Project work will include taking out the Sixth Street bridge, which crosses the city’s storm sewer, and replacing it with a box culvert. Sanitary sewer will be replaced the length of the block, and the street will also be repaved.
Construction must be completed by Thanksgiving of this year.
Splash pad nears completion
Mayor Lyle Troester said the Turner Park splash pad is nearing completion. The contractor, Vorwald Enterprises, Inc., of Monona, recently poured the concrete.
“The cement has to cure for about a week, then they’ll be back to put in the features,” added city administrator Lynette McManus.
The opening date was originally set for Aug. 1, and McManus is hopeful the splash pad will be ready shortly after that time.
“There’s going to be sod [around the splash pad],” she said, “so we’ll have to keep people off that. At best, it’s probably only going to be open a couple weeks.”
Even that short time will be helpful, though, said councilwoman Janet Hallberg, who’s spearheaded the fundraising efforts for the project and other improvements at Turner Park.
“I think we need to open in August, even if just for a test, to see what it’s going to do. If people are asking questions, then you can actually answer them,” she stated.
The ribbon cutting will be held next summer, when the splash pad is fully operational.
Support for EV charging station
The majority of the council supported applying to get an electric vehicle (EV) charging station for McGregor through a project proposed by the Clayton County Energy District (CCED). The energy district is seeking grant funds through the Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation to install four charging stations in Clayton County communities in an effort to stimulate tourism by a growing number of EV owners.
If selected, the city would pay $4,000 of the $16,000 cost of the EV charging station. Councilman Charlie Carroll was the only member not in favor of the idea, citing concerns for recouping the cost of the charging station and energy usage.
Councilwoman Deb Scott said that would be hard to gauge at this point.
“You can’t estimate if you’re going to make money until you have it and people come to it,” she noted.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity,” added mayor Troester.
