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Marshall utility main work will limit traffic to one lane; city holds contractors meeting on local hiring and inspections
Summary
City Administrator Kirtland said Marshall’s utility crews are installing a new main “between the Old Main and the curb,” and that project planning should avoid full street closures.
City Administrator Kirtland said Marshall’s utility crews are installing a new main “between the Old Main and the curb,” and that project planning should avoid full street closures.
Kirtland told the council the city expects “at a minimum, we'll have 1 lane closed, 1 open, but I don't see any full street closures,” and warned motorists to obey cones and detours after the city has issued municipal-court citations tied to the work.
Kirtland also recounted a contractors meeting he and staff held at the municipal court building. “I estimate based on the number of chairs that we maybe had something approaching 50 attendees,” he said, calling the session “extremely productive” and saying it generated “a lot of excellent ideas.”
Council members and staff discussed options for increasing local oversight and compliance capacity after contractors pressed for local accountability and easier access to inspectors. Kirtland said some tradespeople at the meeting volunteered to help with compliance and inspections; the city is exploring how credentialed local experts might assist without formal commitments yet.
Kirtland said the city has been meeting frequently with the utility and expects more public meetings, including one with IBTS, to “help fine tune some of these ideas and turn them into policy.” He cautioned that any changes in fees or permitting processes would come back to the council before taking effect so there are “continued opportunities to be heard.”
A city staff member also described the traffic plan for the immediate installation, saying the new main “is being installed between the Old Main and the curb” and that crews likely will not need to close the north lane. The staff member added that the safety team designed the plan to protect crews and the public and that another alternative—flagging—would “tie up resources.”
No formal action or contract change was taken at the meeting. Council members asked staff to return with more analysis on zoning, special-use permits and possible staffing or contract options before any decision on hiring or changes to the IBTS contract.
What’s next: staff will analyze the contractor proposals, zoning questions and permit flow and bring recommended changes and, if appropriate, draft policy language back to the council for deliberation and vote.
