The Kalona City Council met on July 13. Photo by Sam McIntosh.

The clock is ticking for the Kalona community center project.

The Kalona City Council met Thursday night with associates from Carl A. Nelson and Martin Gardner Architecture to award bid contracts for construction. The council awarded contracts to Delong Construction Inc., Bushong Construction Company Inc., Ace Electric, Summit Companies, Schumacher Elevator Company, and 2nd Wind Exercise Equipment. City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh comments on the project, “It’s been a very extensive process with the community to go through to really gauge what they wanted in a building. And to be able to take the wishlist of the community and try to get it down to where it’s an affordable amenity for the community and not a burden.”

The council chose to set an additional bid letting for paving and surfacing, and for the building demolition, on August 1st at 11 a.m. A public hearing on the bid packages will take place at a special council meeting at 6 p.m. The budgeted cost of the community center is $5,323,039. The project has been funded in part by a bond referendum of $3.9 million, and grants from Enhance Iowa and the Washington County Riverboat Foundation. The center is expected to be completed by the summer of 2018.