Council awards Clement Avenue contract to Knife River for $1.23 million; easement talks, settlement discussion move to closed session

The City of Montrose City Council voted July 13 to award the Clement Avenue improvement project to Knife River Corporation of Sauk Rapids for a low bid of $1,229,208.40.

City Engineer Jared Volge told the council that the city received six bids ranging from about $1,229,000 to $1,778,000 and recommended awarding the contract to Knife River. "The low bid, was submitted by Knife River Corporation of Sauk Rapids, Minnesota," Volge said. Council later approved resolution 2026-35 accepting the bid and awarding the contract by a 4-0 vote.

Council members asked how the project would be funded. When the mayor asked, staff replied: "We are planning to pay for the project in cash." Volge said the overall project budget had been about $2 million and the low bid was below the earlier estimate.

The project scope noted in the staff memo includes the base bid plus "Alternate A," which covers milling and overlay on Energy Drive and some curb repairs in the project area. Volge also said staff will proceed with easement negotiations for properties tied to the Clement Avenue work and later asked the council to move into a closed session to discuss offers to purchase specific parcels.

Outside counsel Justin Temple told the council he had been appointed by the League of Minnesota Cities to represent the city in a case brought by the Herzogs and requested the closed session also include discussion of a possible settlement in that litigation under Minnesota statutes. The council then voted to go into closed session to discuss the listed easement PIDs and the Herzog matter.

Next steps: staff will finalize contract documents with Knife River after completing required easement negotiations and any closed-session direction. The city did not provide a construction start date in the meeting record.