Fort council OKs water main design amendments

By Chris Spangler

The Fort Atkinson City Council Tuesday approved amendments to the design of a $2.8 million water main replacement project slated for 2022.

The city was awarded Community Development Block-Close grants to replace water main in several blocks just south of Rockwell Avenue. A total of 6,000 feet, or just over a mile of main, will be replaced, as will the road itself. 

Streets slated for work include Peterson Street, from Talcott Avenue to Rockwell Avenue; all of Gail Place; Adrian Boulevard, from West Hilltop Trail to Grove Street; Grove Street, from West Hilltop Trail to Rockwell Avenue; Maple Street, from West Hilltop Trail to Talcott Avenue; Grant Street, from Talcott Avenue to Spry Street; and Spry Street, from Grove Street to South Main Street.

City Engineer and Director of Public Works Andy Selle told the council that five bids were received, with the design work awarded to Waukesha-based Ruekert & Mielke Inc.

“We’re currently at about a 90% level of design,” he said. “Our intention is to get the bid documents out in January for this project, with the construction to begin as soon as we can, weather permitting, so we’re saying April 1^st. If the sun’s shining and it’s 60 degrees in March, we’ll be starting.”

Selle noted that as the design evolved, some changes were needed. Among them are the extension of sidewalks; addition of a short section of Adrian Boulevard, between Grove Street and Gail Place; and the need to fully reconstruct Peterson Street. 

The total design cost is $89,077. That includes the initial contract of $56,230; the design to add sidewalks to both sides of all streets, where absent, $12,237; adding a 300-foot section of street/water main replacement on Adrian Boulevard, $4,144; and changing Peterson Street from rehabilitation to full reconstruction, $16,426.

The grant will pay for the design expenses, along with funds from the street and water department budgets. The city qualifies for a $350,000 grant for water main work.

Selle said much of the sidewalk design amendments deal with staking and surveying right-of-way to ensure that the projects do not affect private property.

“When we look at all of these roads, the question is, how much money do we put into the road?” Selle told the council. “I do not like to pay a lot of money for roads that I know are in terrible shape. The best way to fix all of these things is to completely remove them and rebuild them, putting in likely several feet of gravel because of poor soils. That road will last 30 to 40 years and, to build that, it would cost a fortune.

“So what we have done on a majority of these was to try to take the approach to try to reinforce the base … using Geogrid, which basically is a plastic matrix that is spread out,” he continued. “It is a much more cost-effective approach to stabilizing the base.”

Selle explained that most of this area was wetlands as recently as 75 years ago, so the soils are not the best. 

“I think we can get by with putting in the geotextile material that will reinforce the base to the point where I think the asphalt will last at least 30 years, and as long as we keep up with the maintenance, we’re getting a good product there,” he added.

Peterson Street is the exception, the city engineer said.

“Peterson Street is a bit too far gone for me to feel good about making that decision,” Selle said.

He said he and the consultant agreed that the best plan would be to reconstruct Peterson Street.

“It’s in terrible shape. We must have, by luck, hit the worst of the soils in that particular area,” Selle said.

The design cost to reconstruct rather than rehabilitate the street is $16,426. Much of the work is, again, surveying boundaries and grades since landmarks such as curb and gutter and the street itself are being removed.

Council member Megan Hartwick pointed out that these design adjustments could be made short term without borrowing. 

“It always seems when we do these projects in these older neighborhoods, especially in a low-lying area like we had with Rockwell Avenue, we have some additional challenges, so I appreciate things always are going to be a little bit in flux with a situation like this,” council member Mason Becker said.

With a motion by Becker, seconded by council member Bruce Johnson, the council voted 4-0 to approve the design amendments.

Council member Brandon Housley was absent from the meeting.

In other business, the council:

• Held the first reading of an ordinance to amend winter parking hours on Rockwell Avenue. 

The Transportation and Traffic Review Committee recommended the change to better access for plows and semis. 

If approved, there would be no parking on both sides of Rockwell Avenue from South Main Street to Grove Street from Dec. 1-March 15. 

Currently, winter parking rules prohibit parking on Rockwell Avenue from Janesville Avenue to Grove Street. 

Selle explained that the area between Grove and South Main streets creates challenges for snowplows when vehicles are parked there. In addition the curb added to the boulevard in 2017 no longer allows plow blades to extend into the boulevard.

It was noted that residents along the route would be informed of the change, although few park there during winter.

Responding to a question by Hartwick, Police Chief Adrian Bump said that parking rule warnings placed on illegally parked vehicles are written in both English and Spanish.

Hartwick made a motion to advance the proposal to its third and final reading on Jan. 4. This was seconded by Johnson and approved.

• Adopted 2022 fees for the city.

City Manager Rebecca Houseman LeMire reported that for the past several years, the city staff has worked toward removing fees from the Municipal Code of Ordinances and putting them in a resolution. The last fee resolution adopted by the council was in 2016. 

She noted that establishing fees by resolution will allow the council and staff to review them annually along with the budget process, as well as adjust fees when necessary and appropriate. 

The resolution establishing the 2022 fee schedule does not include the Dwight Foster Public Library, Hoard Historical Museum or Parks and Recreation Department, because they have additional qualifications, as with facility rentals, or might be established per program, project, or event, as in the case of recreational programs. 

She said the goal is to establish a baseline for the fees included in the document. In the future, the staff intends to review these fees annually during the budget process to see if any adjustments are needed in the following year. 

The city manager noted that the fees outlined in the resolution amount to about $112,000, or 1.2% of the total general fund revenues.

Hartwick made a motion to approve establishing the fee schedule. This was seconded by Johnson and approved.

(See document below for fee schedule.)

• Approved having Ignatek LLC of Janesville provide and install a centralized router at the Police Department to serve city facilities with fiber for a cost of $10,578.20.

LeMire noted that in March 2020, the council joined the School District of Fort Atkinson in contracting Inter-Con Construction to install a fiberoptic network to the municipal building, water main station, fire and police departments and public library. The school district had installed fiber to link all schools, and the path of installation ran past the abovementioned city facilities. 

The installation of the fiber will allow the city to use the existing network and extend the network to additional city facilities, as well as the Klement Business Park on Fort Atkinson’s south side. The extension will feature three distinct lines, reaching the wastewater treatment plant, Hackbarth Road Water Facility and the Klement Business. 

The council previously had approved the installation of the fiber by Midwest Excavating, as well as extending the network to the Department of Public Works facility. 

As the project advances, existing hardware must be upgraded to continue current IT services to all facilities, ensuring heightened security measures, the city manager reported. 

The fiber cables will connect into a more powerful router centralized and secured in the police station and then into switches or to the existing routers at the various city facilities.

The hardware includes the router/firewall and connectors for expansion of the router for $8,328.20. The services include an estimate of 25 labor hours for a total of $2,250. The total proposed cost of this project is $10,578.20. 

This upgrade will be paid for using funds from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA)- Broadband Infrastructure funding. 

Hartwick made a motion to go ahead with the project. This was seconded by Johnson and unanimously approved.

• Approved contracting with Ignatek for $5,454 for the labor, services and software to migrate the city’s website and email from “fortatkinsonwi.net” to “fortaktinsonwi.gov.”

LeMire said that the library and museum’s websites and email addresses will continue to use “.org.”

Johnson made a motion to approve the contract. This was seconded by Becker and unanimously approved,

• Held the second reading of an ordinance to repeal and recreate the section of the municipal code relating to the Private Well Abandonment and Well Operation Permit Ordinance.

The ordinance addresses private wells once out of compliance, clarifying how to get a well permit and appropriate abandonment procedures.

Water Utility supervisor Tim Hayden reported that 21 wells need to be tested periodically to ensure that they are providing safe water and are not connected to the municipal water supply. 

he current ordinance does not give the city authority to address noncompliant private wells in the city. 

The city staff is proposing a fee of $100 for a two-year well permit. 

Becker made a motion to advance the resolution to a third reading at the council’s Jan. 4 meeting. This was seconded by Johnson and unanimously approved.

• Approved the purchase of two new diving boards from Accurate Diving Board Solutions LLC for $9,296.

Parks and Recreation Department director Brooke Franseen explained that the Fort Atkinson Aquatic Center has a diving well with two diving boards that each consist of the board and a stand or base. The diving boards have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years and have been replaced three times within the pool’s 30 years of operation.

The first time the boards were replaced due to the amount of grit lost early in their manufactured life, she said. The manufacturer advised to store the second set of boards inside over winter to extend their life. The city purchased the current set in 2009.

“It is recommended to resurface the boards every five to 10 years when they start to lose their tackiness and become slippery, causing a safety hazard,” Franseen said. “The boards become slippery due to dirt and oil from swimmers and sunbathers and excessive wear or years of normal wear.” 

The city’s aquatics specialist maintains the boards daily by hosing them down and scrubbing them monthly. 

The estimated cost of resurfacing the two diving boards included in the 2021 Capital Improvements Projects budget is $8,500, while the estimated cost of replacing them is $13,000, is included in the 2023-27 Capital Improvements Projects plan for 2025.

Although the boards can be resurfaced one to two times before replacement, the manufacturer, Duraflex, found underlying cracks and thus will not resurface the boards due to safety and liability concerns.

Becker made a motion to purchase two 16-foot Duraflex 16-DX diving boards from Accurate Diving Board Solutions for $9,296, including shipping. This was seconded by Johnson and unanimously approved by members in attendance.

• Approved the purchase of a replacement hot water heater at the police department from Dunkleberger Plumbing for $12,000.

The 21-year-old hot water heater at the police department recently broke and required an emergency replacement. 

It was one of two water heaters installed when the police station was built, but the other one has not worked for several years. 

Police Chief Adrian Bump told the council that he has no plans to replace the second water heater.

He said that this most recent water heater breakdown was an unbudgeted replacement that will result in an overage within the department’s building maintenance account of about $8,500. However, staff expect that other accounts within the department’s budget might be underutilized to cover this.

Hartwick made a motion to approve the purchase. This was seconded by Johnson and unanimously approved.