Dixon Commission looks at more water Projects

by Matt Hughes

J-E News Editor

The Dixon Commission met in a brief session on Monday night.

Rod Martin, president of Hunter Martin & Associates, Inc was present to update the commission on the status of the Dixon Water project which is nearing completion.

“We really have things to talk about,” Martin said. “One of those is about the project that we just finished up. The second part is what are we going to do with the money that’s left over?”

The original estimated cost of Brown Construction’s part of the project was $451,207, but the final adjusted change over amount for the job was $477,991.

“As we got into the project, the cost of some items went up and some went down,” he explained.

The cost of meters, for example was $10,800 over the estimated amount, while the contractor spent $7,000 less on asphalt replacement that originally planned.

The total amount of the water project came to just under $750,000, leaving $75,000 in the project account. These funds were grant monies the city must spend, or return.

“You have three places in Dixon where you still have cast iron lines,” Martin said. “Jamie Harkins and I had discussed getting the contractor to do some excavating work to find out exactly what lines are out there.”

The three locations named were a section of Leeper Street, part of Clayton Avenue and a short section of line on Short Street.

Harkins and Martin both suggested that after the water lines are verified, the city proceed with having Hunter Martin and Associates engineer plans for those lines.

“We might go ahead and design the whole thing and only have funds to do part of the project,” said Rob Martin.

“But if a project is already engineered, it looks better when you go to get grant money,” Harkins added.

The commission voted approval of payments of $90,959 to Brown Construction and another $12,539.33 to Hunter Martin for engineering the project.

Another issue Martin mentioned was that residents had reported to him that not all of the work along 41-A had been cleaned up after the new water lines were installed. He suggested that the commission see that the contractor finishes that work before final payment is made.

In other business, the commission voted 5-0 to approve the second reading of a Prayer Ordinance. The ordinance introduced earlier this year will regulate who can pray at Dixon Commission meetings.

Mayor Linda Frederick told the board that she had recently been approached by the owner of a garbage collection company who was interested in collecting trash in the Dixon area.

“There is a young man who has a garbage truck in Madisonville,” Frederick said. “He asked if I could bring it up at our next meeting. I told him that I did not think we would be interested.”

“I think it would be hard for him to start that business here, this close to the dump,” said commissioner Arthur Junior Little.

The commission agreed to allow the interested party to hang fliers around town to see if anyone was interested. The man told Frederick that if he signed up over 400 customers, the cost would be $13 a month. Anything less and the rate would be $20.

Finally, the commission voted to set trick-or-treating for 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Halloween.