Thor Klinker updated the Primghar City Council members regarding the Kids Kampus lease and expansion project. He made a brief presentation explaining the updates to the lease, the last update in 2018. The new lease supersedes the 2018 lease and it is important that current leasing be in place for the expansion to take place. He reported that the law requires an engineering firm lead the organization through the fire portion of the project. The addition of doors and sidewalks helps Kids Kampus avoid installing a sprinkler system. At least 2 ingress and egress to and from each room is required.
A tree fell on the fence at the city playground. That led to a larger discussion of insurance and insured items. New playground equipment is expected to arrive soon. The old equipment needs a place to go. Some discussion about possible ways to dispose of the equipment was held. The equipment needs to be removed to accommodate tree removal in the area. The conversations together came to consensus that the existing equipment will not be reinstalled for any period of time and may not be usable in some locations, such as Kids Kampus.
A resolution for street reconstruction on 4th Street and removing all other street construction. The resolution passed.
Mike Carr with DGR Engineering updated the council on its wastewater expansion. He reminded council that the project began in October 2020 doing some sampling for Lynch Livestock. Their design flow of 5000 gallons per day (gpd). The existing capacity of the city with that additional use would have far exceeded the city’s ability to take the waste flow. Due to expected increased prices to build the planned expansion, a request to obtain additional available CDBG funding was made. Carr reported to the council about some technical requirements to do so. Carr talked of company resources in the Sioux City area with expertise specific to industrial uses close in size to what would be needed to accommodate Lynch.
Legal, fiscal and bonding concerns have been updated to include some savings. He talked about some beliefs that some credits might be available, but wouldn’t put anything specific into the plan. Carr also reported that Darren Baumgartner of NWIPDC reached out to Iowa Economic Development Authority about additional grant funding through the same program. The grant was awarded in 4th quarter of 2022 based on rules in place at that time the city was eligible for $300,000, which it was awarded to Primghar. On January 1, 2023, however, that amount was increased to $500,000. Since Primghar was not awarded until February the city should be eligible for the $500,000. The decision was not made yet.
The total budget for the wastewater project was set up in 2021. The project cost/budget has been whittled down over that time by about $300,000, from +$6 million now down to about $5.8 million. Carr reported how the effort to get better bids is going. That is a mixed bag of results. Tim Honkomp asked if there were any engineering costs that could be cut. Carr explained how the fees work but did not give anything specific. He also believes that the 5%, $376,000 contingency is very generous to the project as well. He proposed recommending awarding the contract R.P. Constructors, the low bidder contingent on the additional block grant funding. The resolutions passed.
The wage resolution presented by Tim Honkomp with Ken Miller as the wage committee, offered a 2.5% wage increase from the ambulance to Mike Rosewall and Sarah Rohwer, 25 cents to Amber Mulder from the ambulance and 4% to all other personnel was passed. A 5% increase, greater that the inflation rate, was suggested and budgeted.
The electric transmission lines and the generator construction project was updated. Missing pieces to both projects are slowing finishing.