Work is progressing on North 4th where crews had an emergency repair of replacing a collapsed sewer line added to the scope of work. In June, a sewer line collapsed near the railroad tracks causing sewage to back up in some basements. And a void under the railroad tracks had to be filled in.

City Administrator Brent Hinson said the city council had two options to fix the issue, add a change order to the existing project or bid it out and take more time, “It’s an emergency situation. It also, we believe, was the most cost-efficient way to get it resolved. We had very detailed numbers that we had gone over with the engineer. Like I said, with the main North 4th project we had bid that literally one month before that. So, we had a very good bid from the contractor on most of the quantities and it was really necessary in order to be able to proceed. So, you know, it definitely catches people’s attention and that was a little bit of the concern on the council was well gosh, this is $355,000 and we’re not bidding it out. But I don’t believe that reflects the overall urgency of the situation.”

That decision approved on a 3-2 vote by the city council was to move forward with the current contractor Cornerstone Excavating. The cost to fix the collapsed sewer line is $355,690.80. The sewer work is expected to be completed at the end of August. The railroad crossing on North 4th remains closed while work continues.