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Resident tells council Lincoln Street reconstruction is months behind schedule and alleges unsafe contractor behavior
Summary
A Lincoln Street resident told the Pella City Council on Jan. 6 that the reconstruction project is far behind schedule, recounted a 24-hour water outage linked to the work, and said workers used her exterior outlet via an extension cord; staff said Garden Associates provided temporary water and that staff would follow up.
At the Jan. 6 meeting a resident living at 512 Lincoln Street told the Pella City Council the long-awaited Lincoln Street reconstruction has been repeatedly delayed and remains far from finished.
The resident said the project, originally scheduled to start in July and to finish in November, had not reached the expected milestones and that on Dec. 22 "something went wrong and I was without water for almost 24 hours." The resident told the council she later found workers using an extension cord plugged into her outside outlet to power equipment and said she has photographs of the setup. She said she is frustrated by missed work days and urged the city to consider hiring contractors with stronger local reputations rather than relying on lowest bids.
A Garden and Associates representative reportedly provided temporary water service after the outage, and the resident said she was directed to speak with city staff (Mr. Nixon), who told her he would follow up. City staff did not announce an immediate remedy at the meeting.
The resident also said sidewalks between East Second and East First are not usable and described holes and piles of dirt left along the route. She asked the council to take project delays and contractor reliability into account when selecting firms for future work.
The council did not take formal action on the complaint at the meeting; staff indicated they would follow up with the resident and review the contractor's performance as part of ongoing project oversight.
