By Mari Radtke
The City Park lighting in Paullina replacement has been under consideration for several months. Beck Engineering put the project out to bid after it was determined that Musco cannot both supply and install the lights without winning a bid. Beck Engineering put it out for bid. On Monday December 6 the bids from Ardent Lighting Group, LLC of Knoxville, IA; K&W Electric, Inc of Cedar Fall, IA and Van Maanen Electric Inc of Newton, IA were reviewed.
The city will removed existing lights and run conduit. Musco will supply the lights to the winning bidder. The winning bidder is Ardent Lighting Group, LLC at a price of $229,760.00. The low bid exceeded the engineer’s estimate by more than $21,000.
The project is expected to be completed by May 2022 in time to not disturb Little League.
Some electric system inspection issues were also discussed. Testing circuit breakers and relays is recommended to be done each 5 years. There is no readily available paperwork to show the task has been completed. ItÕs not a budgeted item this year, but bids are being sought. The cost is estimated at several thousand dollars.
Staffing is a serious concern for the Paullina council. The city is down to just 2 employees, both are hired as lineman. Council decided after a lengthy discussion to offer a general laborer position. The other position, Superintendent of utilities took up more oxygen. Six candidates were interviewed. One was considered for the position. That person had no experience with utilities or with city operations. He has supervisory experience. Salary discussion for this candidate left the council with sticker shock. The salary figure being discussed to get him was in the $70,000 to $75,000 range. Existing employees in the meeting made it clear that to hire a supervisor without necessary skills in that pay range will throw the cityÕs pay scale into disarray. A special meeting was held on Monday December 13 for further discussion.