(Spirit Lake)– Rusted bases on street light poles installed only a few years ago along Highways nine and 71 in Spirit Lake were a topic of discussion at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
Councilmen expressed their concern over the premature rusting of the bases. But in most cases, the bases were manufactured from cast iron, which can be highly corrosive when mixed with salt.
Public Works Director Dwight Dohlman says the bases didn’t meet specifications. He says aluminum was specified in the bidding documents, but the city somehow wound up with cast iron instead.
A representative of the company that manufactured the bases was at Tuesday’s council meeting. He said the company is willing to sandblast the bases, treat them and coat them.
But councilman Steve Balm said that isn’t a good solution. He called on the city to stand by its guns and demand the company replace the bases with the aluminum ones that were orginally specified…at the company’s expense.
Other council members agreed and directed Public Works Director Dwight Dohlman to pursue that.
The company representative that was at Tuesday’s meeting didn’t say whether or not they’d be willing to do that. He estimated the cost of replacing the bases at 300-thousand dollars.
But in some cases it isn’t just the base that’s rusted. Rust can also be seen atleast half way up on some of the poles themselves.
