Seward council accepts audit, approves Worthman Boulevard and water projects and a storm sewer change order

The Seward City Council accepted the city—s 2023—24 annual audit and approved engineering and bidding actions for multiple public-works projects, including the Worthman Boulevard extension and a water-main loop, during a regular meeting in Seward, Nebraska. Council votes on the items were unanimous.

The audit presentation was given by Tracy Cannon of AMGL. Cannon said the auditors "issued an unmodified opinion, meaning that the financial statements present fairly," and summarized the benchmarking section of the report. The transcript shows the city's valuation rose to about $671,000,000 and the valuation-per-capita figure was cited at $87,800, which Cannon said exceeded the comparator average of $82,000. Council voted to accept the audit 7—0.

The council approved a $252,050 agreement for construction engineering services for the Worthman Boulevard extension with the design engineer named in the packet and authorized advertising bid documents for the construction contract. The engineer—s estimate for construction was listed at $3,309,035. Mike (staff member) said the extension is tied to earlier CDBG grants and an additional grant from NDOT that he described as "about $580,000" in funding to leverage the project.

Council also approved construction engineering services, estimated at $97,160, for the Worthman Boulevard water main phase 2 project and authorized bid advertising; the engineer—s estimate for that construction was listed at $1,002,451. Mike said the water main work is intended to complete a loop through the rail campus and support future development.

A change order of $15,602.50 to the contract with General Excavating for Bradford Street storm improvements was approved after staff explained the work paid to reroute a damaged sanitary service line serving 247 North Eighth Street. Staff said the contractor discovered a damaged service line that had been relying on gravel bedding and that repairing it required rerouting and reconnection.

Separately, council approved a time-and-materials, full-time inspection agreement with Olsen Incorporated for the 500,000-gallon water-tower coating and completion. Staff described the agreement as 735 hours (700 on-site, 35 office) covering roughly 14 weeks of inspection through mid-July; the transcript identifies the contract as time-and-materials not-to-exceed but does not specify a final dollar figure in the record. That item passed on a 7—0 vote.

Votes at a glance: all motions listed above were approved unanimously (7—0).