Kasson City Council adopts final assessments, awards contract for Southwest reconstruction after public hearing

The Kasson City Council on Tuesday adopted final special assessments for the Southwest Reconstruction project and awarded the construction contract to S and L Contracting, moving the neighborhood-wide street, sewer, water and storm improvements into construction planning.

The action followed a public hearing during which residents questioned why single-family properties and townhomes were being assessed roughly $9,030 per residential equivalent unit (REU), how interest on unpaid assessments would be charged, and whether the project would reduce recurring basement and street flooding.

At the hearing Brandon Thiebel, consulting city engineer with WH Cass and Company, described the project as a full reconstruction of streets and utilities in the southwest portion of town — bounded roughly by Highway 14 (south), Highway 57 (east), Old Highway 14 (north) and Masten Creek (west) — that includes new roadway pavement, new sanitary sewer with manholes and new sewer services to the property line, new water mains and services, larger storm sewers and a permanent stormwater basin on city-owned land along Masten Creek. He told the council the total estimated project cost after bidding is about $5.6 million and the proposed assessed portion is $803,000, roughly 14% of the total project cost.

The city used a residential-equivalent-unit (REU) method to assign assessments: one REU for a single-family…