(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors today (Tues.) approved the low bid of $504,603 for the first phase of the Francis Sites wetland project to Spring Lake Construction of Polk City, Iowa. The bid was well below the engineer’s estimate of $614,603. John Wills of the Clean Water Alliance, a key stakeholder in the project, told the Supervisors the money saved through the lower bid will be put toward a $350,000 shortfall for the second phase of the project. Wills announced last week they were going to apply for a federal grant to cover that, but he says they have since learned the project isn’t currently eligible. He says with the money saved through the lower bid, it will bring the shortfall down to $150,000…
“I think that we can raise that $150,000ish through the Water Quality Commission, through the DNR and some other sources. I’m real excited about this because I think we can now, with the bids that we’ve gotten, we can do phase one which is what you’re awarding, but we can extend the contract and complete phase two and have the flood control, flood retention and pollution control that we’re desiring.”
The supervisors also today (Tues.) approved an engineering agreement with Beck Engineering of Spirit Lake which will oversee the project.
In other business the supervisors approved the appointment of Jennifer Bengs of Spirit Lake as the county’s Veteran’s Affairs Commissioner on an interim basis. The Commission is currently advertising for a permanent successor to the seat. The county’s former Veteran’s Affairs Commissioner, Ann Miller, recently passed away. Bengs has worked in the office since September, 2017.
