GRUNDY CENTER- During a brief special meeting held on Monday night, the Grundy Center city council voted to approve plans and specifications for the sports complex expansion project with plans to open bids on April 16 and approve them by the April 19 meeting.
After a brief public hearing with no comments for or against the project, the council voted 3-0 (Dave Stefl and Meredith McDonald were absent) to move forward with the plans to build a new soccer field, four tennis courts, ADA compliant parking stalls and additional paving. The base engineer’s estimate from Clapsaddle-Garber Associates and Ritland-Kuiper Landscape Architects is $589,000 with contingencies.
Another item of business was correcting the procedure of renaming North First Street to Boulder Street because it should not have been immediately approved after the third reading of an ordinance change establishing criteria for renaming a street. The motion carried unanimously.
During the public comment period, Tender Lawn Care Owner Pat Brown came before the council again to ask further questions about the sports complex situation, specifically which items fell under the purview of the park board and which were up to the city council. At its last meeting, the park board voted to award the lawn care contract to Precision Lawn Care at a higher cost than Tender’s bid, and Tender had held the contract for over 20 years. Because the park board is an elected body, the city council does not currently have the ability to approve or reverse the decision.
Mayor Al Kiewiet explained to Brown that the city has a say on the construction contract because it is bonding for the project, and the city ultimately issues the general obligation bonds. The park board was scheduled to meet on Wednesday night at 5:30 with an agenda item indicating that it would sign the maintenance contract.
During the committee reports, it was noted that Mike Steinmeyer of the Center Theatre had requested a 10-minute parking spot in front of the building for the people who still wish to pick up concessions to go after movies start showing again. Councilman Rick Smith suggested trying a sign on a temporary basis to see how it goes before committing to anything long term.
“I’d hate to cut a hole in the sidewalk if we don’t have to,” Public Works Director Dan Bangasser said.
City Clerk Kristy Sawyer also reported that some downtown business owners have requested dog waste receptacles because some residents are not picking up after their pets, but both Smith and Kiewiet questioned whether it should be a city issue at all.
“How far are we going to go with pushing people along to do the right thing?” Smith asked.
Bangasser said he recently spoke to John Gade from Fox Engineering, and a preconstruction meeting on the sanitary sewer improvements is scheduled for March 30. He also plans to work with affected property owners to minimize the interruption when streets are being torn up as part of the job.
