Dustin Boyle, senior project manager in the city’s utilities and engineering department, gave the City Commission a progress report on multiple active construction projects, saying some schedules have shifted because of rain and materials while others are ahead.

Boyle told commissioners the Alameda Park Zoo wall work will have “substantial completion … on 01/10/2026,” and that earlier schedule adjustments and an additional alternative bid for the remainder of the wall mean the project file shows the work is “24 days ahead of schedule.” He said the new fencing now sits inside city property and no longer encroaches onto Union Pacific property.

The presentation covered nine projects in construction or starting soon. For Oregon WSRP 001 Phase 1 Boyle said a stop-work because of material backorders pushed work and that change order 1 added 60 days, moving the project’s completion date to about Nov. 1, 2025; he cautioned more days will be added once the sewer stub and other infrastructure are finalized. Boyle said the New York/Main Street Makeover has multiple change orders but that the contractor is “actually ahead of schedule by 186 days,” and that the contract completion date could still shift depending on new change orders and weather.

On Desert Lakes Golf Course irrigation Boyle said the back nine is complete and the contractor anticipates finishing the overall job around Oct. 17, 2025; a small change order for concrete pads for windmill aeration could add about 30 calendar days but would not close holes to golfers. The Lower and Upper Heights 16-inch waterline replacement was scheduled to begin potholing the week after the meeting and to tie into the tanks the following week. Boyle said the Otero Greentree regional landfill cell work — dirt removal and liner installation — was expected to start in the next two weeks and take about 90 days.

Boyle described common causes for schedule shifts: rain days, unexpected underground utilities and long lead times for materials. He said the city is adding GPS documentation of previously unrecorded utilities to reduce future surprises. On liquidated damages he told the commission, “So far I haven't had to deal with that … because everybody's been on time.”

Drainage and longer-term storm projects were discussed later in the presentation. Boyle said a storm-drain design for White Sands and Tenth Street is ready for construction and that solving flooding at the Florida/Scenic intersection would require raising the intersection “a minimum of a foot” and addressing cover boxes and a private property area on the northeast corner that the city does not own. He also said a previously designed box‑culvert project at Canal and a channel reconstruction concept remain on the city’s ICIP list and that funding had been set aside in prior years for phased work.

No commission votes or formal approvals were requested during Boyle’s update; the presentation was followed by commissioner questions about sidewalks, concrete work, traffic patterns on New York Street and storm drainage.

The commission did not take action; Boyle said he would return with another update in about three months.