Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Infrastructure Projects topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves $15.08 million Oakland Avenue corridor project bid, funds WHKS contract and adopts wastewater agreement changes
Summary
The council awarded the three-year Oakland Avenue/1st Avenue SW corridor project to the low bidder at $15,083,845.68, approved a $70,000 WHKS construction-administration contract, and approved an 18-month ICM agreement with Hormel with updated discharge limits required by the MPCA.
Austin’s City Council approved a base bid to advance the Oakland Avenue and 1st Avenue Southwest corridor project, along with related contracts and wastewater regulatory updates.
Engineering staff reported bids opened May 29, 2025 and said four firms submitted proposals. The low bid in the record was $15,083,845.68; staff recommended awarding the base bid to the low bidder and noted multiple funding sources will cover the three-year project. During the presentation, staff described federal requirements for projects using federal dollars, including disadvantaged-business participation goals (10.8 percent), prevailing wages and 1,200 hours of on-the-job training for apprentices as part of compliance.
Council approved the resolution to award the base bid on a roll-call vote recorded as 6–0. The council subsequently approved a $70,000 amendment/contract with WHKS to provide construction-administration support and to help with federal documentation related to the same project; that resolution also passed 6–0.
Separately, staff presented a revised ICM (Industrial Control/Monitoring) agreement with Hormel to regulate wastewater discharge parameters, including flow, suspended solids, nitrogen and pH. Staff said the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) required modifications; the council approved updated limits to apply for the next 18 months until the new wastewater plant is complete. That resolution passed with five votes in favor and one abstention recorded.
The council also considered an easement-release request involving Austin Utilities. The city attorney explained charter requirements for releasing rights in real property and advised the council to record whether the city objects; council voted 6–0 not to object, allowing Austin Utilities to cooperate with the private title company pursuing the release.
During the bid presentation staff emphasized that the project comes within the city’s engineer estimate and that multiple funding sources will be used. Staff recommended awarding the base bid only and not the alternate. Council members probed whether Austin Utilities would carry out the alternate work to remove existing infrastructure — staff responded that Utilities would perform that work.
The council asked staff to be mindful of procurement and staffing trade-offs: one member noted the $70,000 consultant contract could be compared to funding part of an internal FTE for similar work.
All measures were procedural approvals to proceed with contracts and do not create immediate policy changes beyond the authorizations recorded.
