The Jamestown Public Works Committee unanimously recommended approval to change the responsibility of remaining special assessments due on four watermain replacement districts.
If the City Council approves the change, the city share would be 70% and property owners’ share would be 30% for watermain replacement districts 17-61, 19-61, 20-61 and 21-61. The city share would be paid by funds from the municipal infrastructure funds, water utility and American Rescue Plan Act. The American Rescue Plan Act funds would only be used for the 21-61 water district.
The Public Works Committee heard a presentation from City Engineer Travis Dillman on how to change the responsibilities of the special assessments on the four watermain replacement projects. Under the current city of Jamestown special assessment general policies and guidelines on past watermain replacement projects, the city’s share is 20% and the property owners’ share is 80%.
“This is replacement of watermains that are past the useful life and that they have already been paid for once and now they need to go back and be replaced,” Dillman said.
The Public Works Committee unanimously recommended approval to authorize using Sourcewell or the state of Minnesota’s Cooperative Purchasing Venture to get bids for the purchase of a new motor grader for the street department.
ADVERTISEMENT
Tyler Michel, engineering technician, said there is a lot of equipment on Sourceville that has already been bid on, then the staff talks to a vendor, goes to the website and a price is given.
“It doesn’t have to be a bid,” he said.
Councilman David Steele said by using Sourcewell or Cooperative Purchasing Venture the city can get exactly what it wants.
Dillman also updated the Public Works Committee on some projects in Jamestown, noting the 2021 emergency watermain replacement project is substantially complete and the new waterline is being used.
He said a meeting was held with a vendor on radio-read water meters. He said discussions with city staff will be held and information about the project will likely be presented to the Public Works Committee in the upcoming months to move the project forward.
The city of Jamestown has about 5,300 accounts for water service, and about 60% of the water meters are 50 to 70 years old and do not record accurate readings of the amount of water being used.
In other business, the Public Works Committee heard a report that Recycle North Dakota collected 131,200 pounds of recyclable materials.
Read more about the presentation on special assessments in Saturday’s Sun.
