Asbestos removal at old school priced at $76,000, council learns
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GLENWOOD CITY—The City Council learned that a cost estimate for asbestos abatement at the old school could be $76,000.
Kevin Oium from Cedar Corporation gave that news to the Council at their regular monthly meeting of November 18. Oium noted that this was just an estimate from an abatement contractor that they have worked with.
The city purchased the old school building that has sat vacant for almost 30 years. They have discussed remodeling it for city purposes or demolish it. But in either case they must clean up the site. Not only did Oium bring bad news about the cost of abatement, he also informed the City Council that there is some hazardous material on site including ballast from light fixtures, a number of old refrigerators and several other items. Cedar Corporation did a survey of the old school property this summer and had furnished the city with a report on where the asbestos is in the building. The gym at the school was built in 1937 and the two additions to the gym were constructed in the 1950s.
The council authorized Cedar Corporation to prepare bidding documents for doing the abatement.
Recycling Fee
The city is facing a large deficit with their recycling effort as the prices for recycled items has dropped. In order to help out with the cost of running the City’s recycling center, the council is imposing a monthly fee to all city residents and businesses of $5.00.
This fee will be added to the quarterly billing from the water and sewer utility. Mayor John Larson told the members of the council the fee should generate some $30,000 annually in revenues for the center. Larson informed the council that when they were discussing curbside pickup, the quote from a firm to do curb side pickup, was at $5.00 a month.
During his report to the council, Public Works director David Caress noted that the storm sewer line from First Street to Tiffany Creek that runs behind the car wash has failed. He had previously informed the council that it could be repaired, but Caress said that it is rotten. But to repair it will require the removal of part of the blacktopped parking lot of the car wash and as it is late in the season, the owner of the car wash does not want the hard surface removed for the entire winter.
Caress also reported that the DNR had received a complaint about the hardness of the city water. This water is coming from the new well number 4 as well number 3 has been down for some time for repairs. Caress noted that it should be back on line this week, and they are working on a solution to the hard water. He also noted that weather permitting, the city crew will finish flushing the water mains this week.
Library Has Outgrown Its Space
In her report to the Council, Library Director, Katie Schneider, stated that the fire chief inspected the library and did the math to see if we are up to code. He “informed us that we are limited to 35 people in the basement and that brings us to a huge issue with our library programs,” she indicated. She listed a couple of program that were recently held at the library and more than 35 people attended.
She noted that the wine event was well attended and they are planning a beer event in the basement in January. She also noted that the library received an Ann Marie grant in the amount of $2,206.00 to purchase three new public computers to replace the outdated computers. She also spoke about the activities of the Friends of the Library.
New Light Bulbs
The Council approved changing the bulbs on 33 streetlights on Main Street to LED bulbs at a cost of $4,600 plus replacing the lights at the fire station parking lot.
In other business Mayor Larson asked members to be thinking about municipal building options. He talked about the old school and the present city hall location, which is rented from Hiawatha National Bank and space for the Library. He noted that the Friends of the Library are looking at a stand-alone building. “I don’t like to spend money on what we are talking about, but,” Larson noted.
Oium presented the council with payment request number six from August Winter & Sons in the amount of $436,383 for the work at the Waste Water Treatment facility. Oium noting that there is still some $300,000 to $400,000 of work yet to be done on the project, some of which will be held off until next spring.
Oium also noted that they have run into a couple of items that were unexpected, like two gate valves that have failed and need to be replaced and about 1400 feet of underground wire that also failed. The cost of those items was estimated to be more than $50,000.
And, the last item on the agenda was to grant operators licenses to Dana J. DeSmith, Megan L. Kuhl and Joseph G. Mosay.