Board of Public Works

On Monday I had a choice: go to the Animal Control Board meeting or the Board of Public Works meeting. Both met at 5:30. The Animal Control Board had most of last month's agenda--they did not have a quorum in April. I have been to the start of several of their meetings lately, so I opted for the Board of Public Works.

The Board of Public Works mostly approves payment to contractors. However, this month's meeting began with the approval of the standard operating procedures that the police will use when they confiscate money, which happens a lot when drug arrests are made.

The first two payments approved were for the water main to I-65. Payment of a bit more than $104K was approved for Grimmer Construction and a mere $280 for Clark Dietz for professional services. Payment to Commonwealth, an engineering firm that city uses for various projects, was approved. The amount was $8636.68. The most recent project that Commonwealth has been involved with is the planned water main that will run from the well along Sparling to the water treatment plant.

Paying the bill for $515 from Jasper County Abstract was approved. The company did some title work that the federal government mandated. No one on the BPW thought the work was really necessary if it had not been required by the Feds. Umbaugh, the City's financial advisor, had an invoice for $20,150 for financial services they have provided in helping the city borrow money. Finally, Bowen Engineering asked for $99,562.55 for work it is doing on the Wet Water Treatment plant. Below you can see the site as it was over the weekend.

This week the crew will be pumping water trying to lower the water table so they can pour some pilings that need to be about 15 feet deep. In the picture above you can see a dike that has been constructed separating the construction site from the wetland area that I sometimes call Weston Lake. (Right now it is only Weston Pond.) Because the construction equipment will stay off the wetland area, it will often be using Lincoln Street. (Or is it Lincoln Avenue?) Expect frequent road closures.

In other news, SJC had its graduation on Saturday. The names of all the graduates are preserved in a brick walkway. (The Core Building is in the background.) It is something has not been done before on campus. Perhaps it will give alumni an added incentive to come back.

The picnic shelter by the Gil Hodges baseball field is finished.
 
A bit to the east of campus the signage in the building at 107 Drexel Drive that has been empty for several years announces that it is the future home of Fastenal.

The City Council and the Jasper County Library Board also met on Monday. I will comment on their meetings in the next post.