Meadow Lane sewer project to begin soon

The long-awaited extension of sanitary sewer lines to the Meadow Lane development in the extreme southeast part of Nevada is expected to begin later this spring.

Tuesday night, the Nevada City Council voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance approving a $284,467.62 bid from Singer Construction, Aurora, to extend city sewer lines to a group of houses that has never had city sewers since it was annexed into the city more than 20 years ago.

Once the council finalizes the agreement it must go to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources for their approval, since there is state money involved in the project, which will take several weeks.

City Manager JD Kehrman told the council they expect construction to begin around April 1.

"There is a 120-day construction window," Kehrman said.

There were 16 bidders for the project and Singer was the low bidder, he said.

The project originally called for an 8-inch sewer line with grinder pumps for most of the houses; however, since then the project has been re-configured to use a 12-inch gravity flow line from Austin Boulevard south to Meadow Lane, that will at some points be 20 feet deep. This will lower future costs associated with the sewer line and because of the depth of the line, the city was required to hire an outside firm for the project.

Kehrman said that the city crews do not have adequate equipment to shore up the walls of the 20 foot deep trench.

Kehrman told the council that Singer Construction does a lot of work for Empire and they are very familiar with installing utility lines underground.

"This will open up much of this area for future development," he said.

It will also facilitate extending sewers to Camp Clark if that becomes necessary in the future, he said.

In other new business the council:

* Voted 5-0 to accept the low bid of $5,142.50 from Blue Water Pools, Little Rock, Ark., for chemicals at Walton Aquatic Center.

* Voted 5-0 to accept a bid of $23,000 from Deems Farm Equipment for a commercial grade utility tractor to be used at the Twin Lakes Sports Complex. The current tractor has a broken hitch that cannot be repaired.

* Voted 4-0, with Seth Barrett abstaining, to pass on first reading a special ordinance accepting a lease-purchase agreement with Heritage State Bank for the acquisition of a John Deere 5075E utility tractor for parks and recreation. The agreement finances the $23,000 tractor for 60 months with an annual interest rate of 2.9 percent.

* Voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance approving the bid from Emery Sapp & Son, Columbia. Mo., for $996,769.30 for the reconstruction of the parking apron and connecting taxiway at the Nevada Municipal Airport. The project is being paid for with a 95-5 match state block grant, not to exceed $1,082,372. The city's match will be $56,968.

* Voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance accepting the option for Trout, Beeman & Co. P.C. Certified Public Accountants to conduct the city's 2011 annual audit. The audit will cost the city $27,300, which is a 3 percent increase from last year.

* Voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance approving a contract with MNOD Taxi and Shuttle to provide subsidized transportation for the city of Nevada. Taxi coupons will be redeemed for $6 and accessible van coupons will be redeemed for $16. MNOD was the only bidder for the same price as last year Kehrman told the council.

Voted 5-0 to pass on first reading a special ordinance amending the city's 2011 budget to account for money from certificates of participation used to finance the city's new fire pumper truck and a new public safety building and increased expenses for depreciation for the water and sewer fund.

* Voted 5-0 to adopt Resolution No. 1336 confirming the city's 2012 street construction projects for a total not to exceed $620,000. The projects will include overlaying Ashland from Ash to Spring; curb and gutter and overlay on the 800-1100 blocks of North Oak, Cedar from Hickory to Atlantic and the 200 block of Minnesota.

* Voted 5-0 to adopt Resolution No. 1337 approving the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 3770 to apply for a temporary caterer's liquor license with the state of Missouri for the Nevada-Vernon County Area Chamber of Commerce annual awards program on March 3 in the 3M Clubhouse.