Ireton to hold public hearing Dec. 21 for street project | Hawarden Independent/Ireton Examiner
IRETON—Dan Van Schepen with DRG Engineering spent about a half-hour giving the Ireton City Council an update on the proposed First Street/La Salle Street paving project, most of which involved a general overview of the timeline.
Van Schepen’s next step is to gather all the documents and assessments by the council’s next meeting at 6:30 pm Nov. 19.
Before the November meeting, Van Schepen encouraged the community to talk with Growmark based in Manson about the city purchasing a small portion of its property. Van Schepen said currently the company has a fence in the road right of way and the fence may need to be removed with the paving project or adjustments will need to be made in how the road is paved in that portion of the project.
If the council approves all the documentation at its November meeting, the city can then send out a letter to property owners along the proposed project that will note the assessment amount of that property for which they have to pay towards the paving project.
A public hearing regarding those assessments and receiving public feedback on the proposed project is then slated for the council’s 6:30 pm Dec. 21 meetings. Van Schepen will return at the meeting to explain how the assessments were calculated and answer other questions the council or public may have.
“Based on feedback from the community, the council can then decide if they’re going to go ahead with the project,” Van Schepen said. “If they do, then we look to bid the project around February possibly.”
If those bids come in too high or there’s something the council isn’t certain about, the council can reject the bids and choose to rebid the project, reduce the scope of the project or hold off on the project completely.
Other matters
The city council also heard that its electronic sign on Main Avenue is no longer functioning properly.
City clerk Laurie Lockhorst told the council she can no longer change the words on the screen. She called Daktronics in Sioux Falls, SD, for a quote but has yet to receive one as of the meeting time due to the limited availability of parts. She also questioned if parts could even be found due to the age of the sign.
The city installed the sign in 2005. Lockhorst noted the sign was not new at the time either.
She has put a claim in to insurance, however, there is a question of whether or not there was a power outage to cause the sign’s malfunction or if it stopped functioning properly by other means.
Lockhorst said if parts can’t be found and insurance doesn’t cover repairs, a new 4-by-8 foot electronic is $35,000-$40,000.
Ireton’s electronic sign on Main Avenue is no longer functioning properly. City clerk Laurie Lockhorst cannot change the screen’s wording and is looking into replacement options for the digital board.
“If we need a new sign, I’d like to see us relocate it by Super Stop,” Lockhorst said. “More people would see announcements and such because that road is so busy with people going in and out of town or through town. I don’t feel people see it as much on Main Street.”
A new sign could include advertising features to help generate some revenue towards paying for the sign.
The council verbalized interest in that option but wanted to wait and see what insurance decides before looking at next year’s budget. Lockhorst also said she would consider applying for area foundation grant money as well, if the sign ultimately needs replacing.
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