Council to consider scaling back asphalt projects

TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
A controversy over specifications for the proposed repaving of a mile-long section of North Main Street, pictured, could force the Maryville City Council to delay three other asphalt overlay projects in order to secure funding needed to replace a MoDOT grant, conditions for which now require the North Main work to be re-bid. According to City Manager Greg McDanel, seeking a new round of offers from contractors could push completion of the high-priority North Main overlay past the current construction season.

Questions posed by a contractor about the way the City of Maryville put together bid specifications for the proposed asphalt overlay of a one-mile stretch of North Main Street between Highway 71 and 242nd Street will likely force municipal officials to scale back the scope of this summer’s annual round of repaving efforts.

Two weeks ago, the Maryville City Council awarded a pair of contracts for asphalt street overlays to Keller Construction Co. of St. Joseph, work that included the badly deteriorated section of North Main.

However, representatives from Herzog Contracting, which submitted a slightly higher bid, questioned the award, arguing that the specifications weren’t detailed enough with regard to the amount of milling work and asphalt material required to satisfactorily complete the job.

The funding package for the $230,000 North Main project was to have included $84,000 in Surface Transportation Program grant funds through the Missouri Department of Transportation, but City Manager Greg McDanel said Saturday that MoDOT has recognized Herzog’s objections and declared that the bid specifications do not meet the agency’s requirements.

Therefore, McDanel said, the STP funds can no longer be applied to the project unless the city revises its specifications and puts the job out for bid a second time.

Rebidding the project will take at least a month, McDanel said, which means it might not be possible to complete the North Main overlay during the current construction season. He added that the city’s bid process “has not presented an issue with MoDOT in the past.”

In order to move the North Main project forward, McDanel is expected during Monday’s City Council meeting to ask the council to reallocate $89,000 in municipal funds that had been earmarked for resurfacing South Davis, South Saunders, and Galaxie Drive.

If the governing board accepts the proposal, those three streets would be given priority for repaving in 2017. In addition, the STP funds, which the city has three years to spend, would be applied to the planned asphalt overlay of a second section of North Main between 242nd Street and 16th Street, probably next year.

The proposed reallocation of funds means North Main Street would be the only overlay project carried out by the city this summer. Keller is to remain the general contractor.

Other business before the council during Monday’s session is to include:

• An ordinance authorizing Wells Bank to serve as a depository for municipal funds.

• A resolution of support for a proposed renovation of Parkway Village Apartments. The renovation, which involves no municipal funds, is to be paid for with $370,000 in Low Income Housing Tax Credits through the Missouri Housing Development Commission and a $500,000 low-interest loan. A similar application from owners AMB Development was denied by commission last year.

• A minor subdivision of a landlocked parcel at 1024 S. Walnut St. owned by Dave Robbins. The split will result in four small tracts of land to be divided between Robbins and three adjacent property owners.

• Approval of a contract with Andrew Spire Construction Co. for construction of the Spoofhound Trail hiking/baking path, which will run east from South Munn Avenue to a second north/south trail stretching from Maryville High School to Maryville Middle School.

The trail has a budgeted cost of $145,973, nearly $117,000 of which will come from a Transportation Alternative Program grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation.

• Approval of a contract with White Cloud Engineering & Construction for the design and building of replacement sewer mains in the vicinity of North Avenue and Dewey Street and Eleventh and Mulberry streets.

The 6-inch mains were built privately many years ago. When installed, the new, larger mains will be incorporated into the municipal sanitary sewer system

Combined cost of the projects is $126,110, which will be taken from $170,000 set aside for such projects in this year’s budget.

• A request by Northwest Missouri Enterprise Facilitation, a private, non-profit group that provides counseling to entrepreneurs and small business owners, for $10,000 in general operations funding. The group received $7,000 from the city to help pay expenses during its current budget year.