Council moves forward on Anderson Street improvements, approves engineering agreement and authorizes bond process

The Manchester City Council opened a public hearing and approved steps to pursue a $2 million general-obligation loan for the Anderson Street improvement project, and later approved an engineering agreement for phase two of the project while noting remaining utility pole removals could affect scheduling.

At the public hearing staff member Erin described the proposed general-obligation corporate purpose loan, saying the $2 million would fund phases one and two of the Anderson Street project and that surplus bond proceeds, if any, could be applied to another street project such as West Marian Bridge. No members of the public spoke during the hearing and the council closed the hearing before taking action.

Council then considered resolution 22 to enter a loan agreement, set a sale date for GO bonds series 2026 and to authorize use of a preliminary official statement; the motion was moved, seconded and approved by the council members present.

Later in the meeting staff reported remaining utility work for Anderson Street: Windstream completed most relocations, but two poles remained—one across from Howard and another service drop north of that location. Staff said Alliance had been notified and that removal could take up to several weeks; the council agreed to allow additional time and to hold off on enforcement action unless removal does not occur.

The council also considered resolution 25 to approve an engineering agreement (FerGraham) for Anderson Street improvement phase two. Staff described the scope—utility coordination, ADA sidewalk ramp work, surveying, construction administration and staking—and noted the contract structure (lump sum for design, NTE for utility easements and survey). A motion to approve the engineering agreement was made and passed with the councilors present voting in favor.

Staff gave additional scheduling updates: contract documents for the current Anderson Street contract (Eastern Iowa Excavating) were expected to be finalized and provided to staff ahead of a special agenda item for contract approval at an upcoming meeting; the construction completion date for the current contract was listed as September 4 in the project documents.

What’s next: council authorized steps to sell or otherwise market the proposed bonds, approved engineering services for phase two, and asked staff to monitor remaining utility pole removals before advancing later phases.