City committee approves final payment for Buffalo Hills gully remediation

Brainerd City Safety & Public Works voted to approve final payment to close Improvement 2115, the Buffalo Hills Gully Remediation project, after city engineer Jesse Dean told the committee the contractor agreed to finalize the work and staff expects to install live stakes and shrubs in the spring.

Dean recommended release of the project retention, ‘‘essentially the retention, 64,000 and change,’’ and said the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts nomination is planned for the annual conference in December.

The committee’s questions focused on whether the project had held up during recent heavy rains. Councilman Chesak asked if erosion had appeared after the work was completed; Dean replied, ‘‘It has done very well, actually,’’ but cautioned that the outfall treatment is collecting sediment and ‘‘we’ll have to clean that on a regular basis’’ to avoid sending sediment to the creek.

Councilman Yeager inquired about an approximately $10,000 change order. Dean said the change orders reflected removal of unplanned concrete debris, adjustments to manhole heights, additional hand-placed riprap at project limits and bringing in topsoil to stabilize disturbed slope banks so reseeding would take hold.

A motion to approve the final pay request was made and seconded; the chair called for the question and the motion carried by voice vote. The committee closed the item and recorded that the project will be monitored for outfall maintenance going forward.

The committee did not record a roll-call vote in the transcript; the chair announced the motion carried.