By Kim McDarison
A document released through the City of Whitewater’s website indicates that city officials have signed a contract for dredging within Cravath and Trippe lakes with Chetek-based Stout Construction, Inc. The document was signed on Jan. 11.
Information recently released by the City of Whitewater notes that Stout is a subcontractor working with A-1 Excavating, Inc., one of two contractors that responded to a request for bids made by the city last November.
During a meeting of the Whitewater Common Council held Dec. 21, the council granted authorization to members of city staff to pursue a contract with A-1 Excavating, Inc., and Whitewater-based Kowalski and Sons Excavating.
Both companies, City Manager Cameron Clapper said during the meeting, had expressed an interest in working with the city to help keep dredging costs to within an amount as originally budgeted by the city. That amount was $1.5 million.
After releasing a request for bids in November, the city received two responses. The smaller of the two bids received was provided by A-1 Excavating. The company bid the city’s full dredging project, as it was presented in the request, at just under $2.5 million.
According to the contract recently signed with Stout Construction, the process will use excavators, dozers and dump trucks, with all work toward completion on a “time and material basis.”
The contract supplied estimates of itemized expenses, further stating that “actual invoices will be created based on actual amounts.”
Among costs identified in the document are $30,000 for “mobilization and demobilization” and $60,000 for mats, which are required to ensure mobility of equipment in the lake beds.
Hourly rates for use of equipment range from $115 per hour for a quad axle dump truck to $265 per hour for a CAT 336 excavator.
“Production tracking shall be signed off by (the) Stout superintendent and city official weekly. Invoices shall be sent weekly,” the contract states.
In addition, the document specifies that the company will plan for 12-hour work days.
Exclusions within the contract include: ripping, blasting, licensed staking and layout, permits, private locations, hidden or buried debris, rock excavation, dust suppression, compaction testing, traffic control, dewatering, landscaping, planting and retaining walls, according to the document.
Information posted to the city’s website on Jan. 14 indicates that plans call for the company to provide two teams of workers, one at each lake, with dredging preparations to begin next week and the removal of materials from the lake beds to begin the following week.
The full project is anticipated to take place, weather permitting, over a 5-6 week period.
Construction work will be performed Monday through Friday, between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., according to the city’s website.
Parking areas at Cravath Lakefront Park and Trippe Lake Park will be closed while the work is being performed, the information continued.
Plans call for spoils removed from the lake beds to be “stockpiled” at the city’s designated deposit sites located on land east of and adjacent to the Innovation Center in the city’s industrial park and on property owned by Whitewater business owner Geoff Hale, located near Cravath Lake.
According to the information released: “The plan is to create a navigation channel through the lakes and dredge around the park waterfront areas.”
The city has received a permit from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to remove 81,000 cubic yards of materials from the lakes.
Plans call for the refilling of the lakes with water beginning June 10, the information stated.
A link to the city’s website is here: https://whitewater-wi.gov/1.
A copy of the contract with Stout Construction is here: http://fortatkinsononline.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Stout20Construction20Dredging20Contract.pdf.
An earlier story about bids received and plans to restore Cravath and Trippe lakes is here: https://fortatkinsononline.com/whitewater-city-authorizes-pursuit-of-dredging-contract-with-a-1-kowalski/.
Cravath Lake as it appeared in 2015. Recent steps taken by City of Whitewater officials move both Cravath Lake, and its adjacent counterpart, Trippe Lake, closer to completion of a restoration project that has been ongoing for more than two years. Newest plans anticipate the drawn down lakes will be refilled with water in June of this year. File photo/Kim McDarison.
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