The Official Newspaper of Manchester and Delaware County, Iowa

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

City closer to Schram Park vision WD School Board approves project bids Secondary road budget, construction approved

City closer to Schram Park vision by Latisha Sand

Schram Park is a vision in the works for the Park and Recreation Department, the city of Manchester and the residents. Although, funding and long-term maintance for the park has held progress back, the Manchester Rotary Club is taking a step forward. This spring the Rotary Club will be starting the construction of a shelter for the park, which is located just east of XL Trailers and can be seen from Highway 20. “Rotary made the commitment and met with the Manchester City Council,” said Dave Dudley, a Rotary member.

LATISHA SAND/Press The future Schram Park lays just east of the expansion of XL Trailers and just north of Highway 20. The park, which now only contains a pond, might include five holes of Frisbee golf, a dock, a trail and other recreational activities.

“We’ve committed 100 man hours and $1,000.” The Schram Park vision has been in the works for the past three years but every time the idea is brought up to council members something, like a budget cut, puts the park on the back burner. “The council really wants to see this, but they need to be financially responsible too,” said Ben Page, the Parks and Recreation Director. Once the open-air shelter is completed, Dudley hopes this will be the first of several things that will be done there. “We know that the city has been involved in this for a few years,” said Dudley. “We want someone to get the ball rolling so people can see something there. The shelter will be the main focal point at this stage and we want to get it right.” Page and the Downtown Revitalization Enhancement and Marketing committee would like to see other recreation there too. Although most of the park would be in a flood way and flood plain, they would like to see a five hole Frisbee golf course, a dock, a fishing pier, a canoe access point to the Maquoketa River, a fountain in the middle of the pond, a sign for Manchester near the highway and a walkway around the pond that will connect to the new walkway on Brewer Street. “We come up with the general idea for projects,” said Page, “and then ask for input from the citizens. Nothing is set in stone though.” All the ideas, however, will be provided if the city can get grant money or donations for the project. “The golf holes are available for adoption,” said Page. He also mentioned that the city will be applying for grants next year and that private donations, if received, will not be spent until the city knows they can go forward with the park. “It will be a nice park for the city and a nice visibility prospect for Manchester,” said Dudley. “Nice things are going on along Highway 20 in other communities and we want to show other people that Manchester is a good community to live in.” Page agrees and said that it will show another side of Manchester besides the industrial park. “The question was, ‘How can we get people in from Highway 20?’ and the park is part of the goal,” said Page about the Downtown Revitalization Enhancement and Marketing committee being involved in the project. The average depth of the pond is eight feet, however, there is one spot, the southeast corner that is only two to four feet deep. “We are waiting on one bid to see how much it would be to dredge (the pond),” said Page. One reason to dredge the pond is so the Hartwick Huskys would have a place to practice and perform shows. Many fishermen and residents don’t like that idea but Page thinks it will work out fine. “The ski club would post a schedule near the entrance,” said Page if the Huskys used the pond. “It would be like a total of seven hours a week and four Sunday shows.” But for right now, Page, the Rotary Club and other Manchester residents want to make sure that there will be a park for people to visit. “Contact your council members to help lobby for this,” said Page. “It’s a great concept and I’m excited to do this.”

WD School Board approves project bids by Latisha Sand

The West Delaware School Board approved the bid from Larson Construction out of Independence for the high school construction and remodeling project. The base bid for Larson was $5,340,000 not including several alternate items the board had discussed at their last meeting. “When we had approval for bids, we found out that it would be more so we bid different alternates like some of the classrooms, the geothermal and expanding the locker rooms,” said Board President Gary Johnson. With the 16 classrooms, remodeling and expanding the locker room, classroom wall cabinets, auditorium clouds and rigging, auditorium theatrical controls and the terrazzo corridors the total estimated cost from Larson was $7,205,656. But $538,000 of that will be coming from the West Delaware Booster club to expand the locker room and the auditorium fundraising committee for the two alternates for the auditorium. “It appears we can do the project like we laid out to the public when they voted,” said Johnson. Including the geothermal system. The bid for all areas of the geothermal project was $326,800 from Barker Lemar Engineering Consultants from Des Moines. “The geothermal was an after thought,” said Johnson. “But that’s been absorbed in the budget. That’s part of the reason for the overflow but we feel it’s important.” So the total estimated cost of the construction and the geothermal is $7,532,456. Roger Worm, an architect from OPN in Cedar Rapids, is setting up a pre-construction committee with board members, construction managers, and, Hilbert recommended, two auditorium fundraising members. That committee will be meeting within the next few weeks. The board also approved: • the 2006-2007 budget. A majority of the school district residents with agricultural, industrial or commercial holdings will see a decrease in school property taxes whereas most residential taxpayers will see only a .06 percent increase. • the contract with Keystone AEA for technology services and the contract for the Technology Independent Contractor. • the storm water retention agreement with the City of Manchester. • the Memorandum of Understanding between the school and the Delaware County Fairgrounds. This MOU states that the school may evacuate West Delaware students to the fairgrounds in an emergency. • the increase of English requirements for graduation from six credits to eight starting with the incoming freshman during the 2006-2007 school year.

Secondary road budget, construction approved by Julie Sunne

County Engineer Mark Nahra presented the Delaware County Board of Supervisors with the Secondary Road FY 2007 Budget and the Secondary Road Five-Year Construction Program at their April 11 meeting. With the boards approval the reports will be forwarded to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The secondary road budget for July 2006 through June 2007 is down by over $1 million thanks to new equipment expenditure reductions of more than $400,000 and construction cost cut backs of $950,000. Nahra cautioned that construction costs can change quickly in the face of large projects, such as the grading project taken on this fiscal year, and emergency projects, such as bridge failures. The five-year construction program details the construction projects planned for each fiscal year for the next five years, their cost, location, type of project, and funding source. Funding for road construction in the county comes from several sources: the local construction budget, the local option sales tax (LOST), the farm to market budget with matching federal aide, and stand alone federal aide. There are eight projects scheduled for FY 2007: 310th Avenue bridge replacement northeast of Petersburg Railroad crossing surface improvement on W63 Paving X-35/260th Avenue between Highway 20 and Highway 38 Resurfacing D-47/315th Street from 220th Avenue to Pheasant Road East Grading for D-47/Goose Hill Road paving North Firefly Road grading and paving Jones-Delaware Road from Highway 38 to 333rd Avenue, grading and bridge replacement (shared project with Jones County) Robinson Creek Bridge replacement on W63/110th Avenue Supervisor Steve Koeneke commented that the county needed to keep the number of construction projects reasonable, especially with gas so high. Also, in 2010 the LOST ends, eliminating a funding source for the county unless it is reenacted. Bill Skinner, chairman of the board, said that LOST should be readdressed in 2008 to help with the long planning process of some projects. Nahra also presented the board with the secondary road driveway and entrance policy for their approval. One of the changes in the policy is that the landowner may now use AASHTO approved “plastic” culverts in addition to the corrugated metal and concrete when putting in an entrance. However, the landowners will be responsible for the replacement of the culverts and corrugated metal is still recommended. Nahra said that with around 200 driveways approved each year, and approximately 8000 feet of culvert placed, it was getting to be a large expense to the county to continue replacing private entrance culverts. The county will no longer maintain, repair, or replace driveways constructed within the county right of way unless it is in the course of a county construction or maintenance project. Existing driveway culverts will be checked for structural soundness before a driveway-widening request is approved. Paved driveways are not allowed within the rights of way on paved roads unless a special permit is obtained from the engineer’s office. Asphalt and concrete paved driveways on granular surfaced roads are prohibited. The union agreement for the Sheriff’s Department for the 2006/2007 fiscal year was approved by the board. This included a four percent raise. Funds were once again transferred to the secondary roads; $373,513.47 from rural services and $37,229.19 from general basic. Quarterly reports of the elected officials were also accepted and approved (all deposited in the general basic fund unless otherwise stated): • $650 from the auditor’s office • $17,555.90 from the sheriff’s department • $34,235.90 from the recorder’s office • $1,215 to the electronic transfer fee fund from the recorder’s office $1215 to the recorders management fund from the recorder’s office A quarterly contract voucher in the amount of $5,406 was approved and will be sent to the state for reimbursement for the cost of 77 water tests and 5 well closures done during the January 1 to March 31, 2006 time period. Delaware County has been asked to be the fiscal agent for a grant request for the restoration and beautification of the Sand Creek Cemetery in Prairie Township. The request was approved. Skinner commented on the steps the board is taking concerning the sexually oriented business issue brought up at the last meeting. Information is being gathered from other counties as to measures they have taken. Some of the counties have had policies that have been tested in court and thrown out. Skinner said that writing a policy that will stand up in court is a complicated matter and will continue to be pursued with progress updates given at each board meeting. Discussion of the construction of a new community services building resulted in a decision to continue to pursue the cost of a new facility. A public hearing will be held April 24 at 1:15 in the supervisors’ office, and if no objections are heard, bids will be received and approved on May 1 at 1:15. Another public hearing is scheduled for May 1 at 1:15, immediately following the community services building hearing. This hearing is in reference to a construction evaluation for the Rick Domeyer farm and pursuing a master matrix for W.B. Farms. Nahra commented on road construction projects currently underway. The 298th Avenue Bridge is now open to traffic. Resurfacing on D-47, followed by the applying of a 3-1/2 inch overlay, is scheduled to begin May 8. Use caution when driving that route as there will be days when the road is closed to through traffic. The sections closed will vary as the project continues.

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