Keokuk council approves asbestos abatement contracts, hears timeline for Elm Carbide cleanup

The Keokuk City Council on Monday opened public hearings and approved resolutions to proceed with asbestos abatement at two parcels of the former Elm (Elkcom) Carbide site as part of a phased brownfields cleanup.

Emily Smart, the city’s project manager for the Elm Carbide EPA assessment grants, told the council the opinion of probable cost for asbestos removal on Auditor’s Parcel D was $132,000 while the low bid returned at $76,600. For adjacent Plat One, Smart said the opinion of probable cost was $14,800 and the low bid was $5,357. Smart said both parcels were being let in parallel, which helped produce competitive bids and that the hearings satisfy a requirement of the city’s EPA brownfields grants.

Smart said the abatement is an early step in a multi‑phase cleanup that will include demolition of most buildings (excluding one large southern building that may be preserved), removal of petroleum coke stockpiles, excavation of contaminated soil, placement of clean backfill and groundwater monitoring. She said the city’s first grant for Plat One has about two years remaining and that the larger southern parcel work has a later deadline (through roughly 2030) tied to a separate grant award.

After the hearings closed, council members approved a resolution confirming plans, specifications, form of contract and cost estimates for asbestos removal on Auditor’s Parcel D and moved to allow the mayor to execute an agreement with Site Services Inc. to perform the work. The council approved the identical procedural steps for Plat One and authorized a separate agreement with Site Services for that parcel.

City staff said EOC Environmental (named in the presentation as a previously used contractor) and other bidders responded to the invitations, and Smart noted the city will conduct clearance sampling and air monitoring during abatement to confirm removal. Council members discussed schedule expectations tied to grant deadlines; staff said their intent is to complete the grant‑funded work within the stated grant periods and to continue parallel bidding for subsequent demolition and soil‑remediation phases.

The council recorded no written public objections in the hearing records. No new funding allocations beyond those in the grants were approved at the meeting; the council’s votes authorized moving forward with the advertised contracts and agreements necessary to begin abatement and related early‑phase cleanup work.