Work to slow at Everly sewage lagoons

BY NICK PEDLEY

Despite noticeable progress this spring, it's unlikely improvements at Everly's sewage treatment lagoons will be completed this year.

Engineer Brian Schmidt said Monday during an update to the city council that most dirt work for Phase 1 of the project has been completed. However, crews from King Construction will be moving to a new job soon, making it unlikely all of the upgrades are finished before snow flies.

"I'm not as optimistic as I was a couple weeks ago after talking with them," Schmidt said. "I'm trying to work more with the DNR to put a little more pressure on them to push things along."

King Construction, of Wall Lake, was awarded the contract last fall after submitting a bid of $3.88 million. The price was approximately $1 million more than the project's estimated price tag; however, the council felt it was left with no choice but to accept the proposal after being forced to rebid the project once before in 2019.

Consequently, the project's completion date was pushed from Dec. 1, 2020 to Oct. 15, 2021. Schmidt noted construction got off to a great start thanks to favorable conditions, which left him hopeful things would get wrapped up by winter.

"It's a completely different schedule than what they gave in the pre-construction meeting," he said. "I was pretty frustrated when I got the call."

Though the council and Schmidt would like to see progress continue, the engineer noted it was important to keep an open line of communication with the construction company since it's still well within the time limits of the contract.

"I'm not beating down their doors because I'd like to keep things positive for now," Schmidt said. "But I would like to make sure they keep moving on this project because you never know what the weather will be like in the future."

Mayor Brad Behrens expressed frustration with the news. He was also upset King Construction was buying materials like liners if they weren't going to get installed soon.

"If they're going to send us bills for material that's not going to get installed this year, then we're not paying for it," he said. "Once they're in the ground, we'll pay for it."

The council backed Behrens' sentiment.

"If this was a home project, you wouldn't buy the shingles now and put them up next year," said Council Member Tara Patrick.

If favorable construction weather occurs throughout the summer, Schmidt said crews might return and be able to finish the project. However, he was unsure such optimism was warranted.

"I was hoping they'd get the whole thing done with the way they were going," he said.

• Boundary dispute resolved

A simmering feud between Everly and Clay County was officially resolved Monday following nearly three years of negotiations.

Back in 2017, it was discovered that a small portion of land in the southwest part of town had been mistakenly listed in the county tax jurisdiction rather than the city for several decades. City and county officials debated how to correct the issue, but it proved difficult.

Ultimately, an agreement was reached to fix the discrepancy and reconfigure the city's boundary lines to adjust for the change.

"Let's get it over with," said Behrens. "It's been two and a half years, and I'm not making any more friends over at the courthouse."