By Jenny Lescohier
The Fort Atkinson City Council unanimously approved a construction oversight amendment to the $2.8-million water main replacement project in progress south of Rockwell Avenue on Tuesday, and learned there will be no sidewalks added to affected streets at this time.
The amendment will pay for an individual to provide on-site supervision of construction at a price not to exceed $104,848.
City Engineer and Director of Public Works Andy Selle spoke to the council about the need for the supervision, and provided a project update which included news that sidewalks would not be part of this project due to funding constraints.
“I had sincerely, really wanted to get sidewalks into this project,” he told the council. “That’s an area of the city where we have a lot of folks; we have two large elementary schools and a fairly high concentration of families.”
Selle said it was the city’s intention to include sidewalks when bidding for the project, realizing there was a possibility the money would not be available.
“Folks at the federal level indicated we could not do that as we are exactly at our 50% threshold required to receive the grant funding of $362,000,” he explained. “Unfortunately, we have to pull the sidewalk out of the project.”
He added, “I’ll continue to look for funding opportunities for this. I thought the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money that was coming down provided an opportunity for us, but we weren’t able to make that work. However, there are opportunities going through 2026 for additional sidewalk funds.”
The amendment for additional supervision on site is a necessary expense, Selle said.
“(Waukesha-based design firm Ruekert & Mielke Inc.) are essentially going to have someone on site managing this project throughout the summer,” Selle explained. “The last time we had a project of this size was Rockwell Avenue, and we had a similar contract in place with MSA, who had done the design at that time.”
He went on to say that while it is a fairly expensive contract to have someone managing the project on a daily basis, the supervision does pay big dividends. He doesn’t foresee using the entire $104,848, however.
“I believe we’re under budget on the design portion of this project, so I don’t expect us to get to that level unless something significant happens on the project. At present it appears to be fairly cut and dry,” Selle said.
Councilperson Megan Hartwick asked Selle why the cost of the oversight wasn’t included in the original budget.
“I hoped that we might have an assistant engineer on board by this time, and that we might be able to cover some of this internally,” he said. “I just don’t have the capacity to take it on. I asked for a number on this probably a month or two ago, when it became apparent that we weren’t going to have anybody to cover it. So it was anticipated, but it wasn’t originally budgeted.”
Selle further explained the need for full-time supervision depends on the size and complexity of each project.
“When the city did water main replacements on Roosevelt, Messmer and Zaffke streets a couple of years ago, the project was maybe a third of the size of this one, and was easily managed by department staff, which is currently less than it was at the time.
“The size of this project really requires us to have somebody on site. There are very specific deadlines that need to be met, which means we have to make quick decisions in the field if we run into problems. It’s just a bigger project and we just don’t have the staff to cover it right now.”
Late last year, 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.
Work on the project is expected to begin on June 20. A letter was to be sent by the end of this week to all residents in affected areas.
Fort Atkinson Municipal building, file photo/Kim McDarison.
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