Fort Wayne council advances package of street, alley and utility contracts in committee

The Fort Wayne Common Council moved a slate of construction contracts forward from committee on May 19, approving due‑pass recommendations for five public-works projects and one City Utilities project that will fund street repairs, alley replacements and filter work at the 3 Rivers Filtration Plant.

Council President Marty Bender opened the meeting and City Clerk John McGully recorded an eight‑member quorum. Councilwoman Michelle Chambers, chairing the public-works segment, introduced five ordinances that the committee approved on due-pass recommendations.

The largest city contract discussed was S260509, a $1,879,851.73 work order with Milestone Contractors LP to begin a first phase of West Cook Road concrete repairs from Huguenard to roughly 800 feet west of Lima. City Engineer Patrick Zaharico said the project will repair deteriorated concrete panels, apply an asphalt overlay and fill sidewalk gaps along about 1,200 feet; the work is funded through a TIF partnership and was described as the first of multiple phases.

Transportation Engineering presented three additional street projects: S260505 (Inwood Drive concrete rehab, Hipskin Concrete Corp., $1,320,913.75), S260507 (Growth Avenue brick street repairs, Phase 2, Key Concrete Inc., $633,072) and S260508 (Pettit Rudisill neighborhood Phase 5, Hipskin Concrete Corp., $698,050). Matt Gray of Transportation Engineering said S260505 will replace roughly 3,325 feet of concrete pavement, 6,650 feet of curbing, 40 feet of sidewalk and repair two ADA ramps. On Growth Avenue, Gray noted brick streets can cost "two or three times" as much as asphalt and said about half the Growth Avenue work pays for drive approaches, sidewalks, curbs and ADA ramps.

An alley-repair project, S260506 (work order 088D), will replace approximately 890 feet of deteriorated alley pavement serving about 32 residential properties; Venmo Concrete Construction LLC was the low responsive bidder at an estimated $153,350. Funding sources were identified in the presentations: MBH for Inwood, surtax for brick and Pettit Rudisill projects, and LIT for the alley work.

City Utilities brought S2606511, a nearly $2 million project to replace filter underdrains at the 3 Rivers Filtration Plant. Eric Rupert, representing City Utilities, said the work will replace the underdrain system on four of the plant's 28 filters and add new piping, valves, instrumentation and filter media. Substantial completion is scheduled for September 2027 with final completion in November 2027; the project is funded through water revenue.

Each item received a committee motion and a recorded due‑pass recommendation with unanimous committee support (8–0) as recorded by the city clerk.

What happens next: due‑pass recommendations move each ordinance back to the full council for final readings, potential amendments and final votes. The schedule and start dates for the larger street projects were described as dependent on contractor schedules; the West Cook Road repair was expected to start in June and run into October, and several other projects listed spring or late‑summer start/completion windows.