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Council authorizes bids for 2025 streets, trails, lead replacements and equipment
Summary
City council authorized staff to solicit construction bids for 2025 street and utility projects, including Bill Maher Avenue reconstruction, the Oaks Trail, lead service line replacements, and equipment replacement; council also approved related parks and utility bid solicitations with one abstention on each equipment/utility vote.
The New Richmond City Council on Feb. 10 authorized staff to solicit construction bids for several 2025 capital projects and to solicit equipment bids for Public Works and utilities.
Council approved a package to bid the 2025 street and utility work, which includes reconstructing Bill Maher Avenue from Eleventh Street to Paperjack Drive; construction of the Oaks Trail (an off-road trail connecting the Avondale development funded in part by a Wisconsin DNR stewardship grant of $163,000); alley reconstruction projects (including the alley for which the council approved a preliminary special assessment); and lead service line replacements. Staff told the council the city received an LRIP grant from the Department of Transportation for about $650,000 to cover a portion of the Bill Maher Avenue project.
Council members said bundling the projects should attract more bidders and produce better pricing than splitting small work items into separate procurements. "By lumping them all together, we're kind of forcing them to take all the projects," a council member said during debate, describing small lead-line replacements as less attractive standalone work for busy contractors.
Separately, the council authorized bids for parks equipment identified in the 2025 capital-improvement plan, specifically a John Deere utility vehicle (gator) and a zero-turn mower. Alderman Weinmeier made the motion to solicit bids for the parks equipment and Alderman Gartner seconded; the motion passed with Alderman Montello recorded as abstaining because his employer may submit a bid.
The council also authorized solicitation of bids for several utility capital items including a replacement pickup for water operations, new pumps for the main lift station (two pumps cited as 43 years old), cured-in-place lining for selected clay tile sanitary sewers, a replacement bucket truck for electric, contracted pole replacement services, and components or upgrades for the wastewater treatment plant’s ultraviolet (UV) disinfection system. On the UV system staff clarified the UV work is an operating expense and effectively a single-source procurement; council authorized the expenditure for that item. The vote to authorize the utility solicitations passed with one abstention.
