Water Board Welcomes New General Manager
The Oskaloosa Water Board for July 8, 2019.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Oskaloosa Water Board met in regular session at 4 pm on Monday, July 8, 2019.
Kelly Hefner was named the new General Manager on June 21st, and he comes to Oskaloosa from Harrisburg, Illinois, where he was most recently serving as the Stormwater/Sewer Supervisor with the city of Cape Girardeau, MO, and as the Superintendent of Public Works for the city of Harrisburg, Illinois.
The board discussed the pay application to KLC Construction for work that is being completed along A Avenue West. The total cost for the work is $593,000.00 of which $392,000.00 has been paid to date on the project.
$112,146.07 was approved for payment on the most recent work. Boring a new water line under A Avenue will be part of the remaining work on the project. It will replace a six-inch line with an eight-inch line.
Other parts of the project waiting for completion is pressure checking of the new line from Clemons to L Street.
The board approved the end of the fiscal year invoices and financial statements. The Oskaloosa Water Department came in under budget for the year, due in part to labor savings while being short staffed.
The board set bid dates for the upcoming Edmundson North and MSO water line replacement project.
A bid date of August 6th, 2019 was set for the project. The board would then hold a public hearing and act upon the bids at their August 12, 2019 Board Meeting.
According to engineers and staff, the cost of work on water and sewer systems has been skyrocketing due to an abundance of work.
The abundance of work for contractors comes from multiple government entities, like the City of Oskaloosa and the Oskaloosa Water Department, who are being forced to meet mandates from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the EPA.
That abundance of work comes with an increased cost, due to a lack of available contractors to perform the work.
A rough estimate of the project puts the cost at nearly half-a-million dollars.
The Oskaloosa Water Board will hold their next meeting on August 12, 2019, at 4 pm inside the Oskaloosa Water Department office.
