DARLINGTON – At the City of Darlington meeting held on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. the council revisited campground bids.
The City Council received five bids (ranging from $279,165 to $216,017) at their Aug. 15 meeting to build an additional nine campsites adjacent to the current campground in Darlington. The council decided not to act on the proposals, due to some confusion regarding alternate electrical bids. Mark Digman was present to explain the differences in the bids.
Alder Steve Pickett pointed out, “In the electrical part of the bids, one company bid it in both places and their bid reflected double the amount for electrical.”
Digman said, “In the addendum, that I sent out, I had specific instructions how to fill out the addendum. There are two different options and they would pick which one their electrical contractor wanted to do and they would fill in the price for that one and put zero on the other one.”
Mayor Mike McDermott said, “Wade (Berget, Parks Director) voiced his opinion that he preferred a breaker at each campsite.”
Digman said, “At the pre-meeting we talked about how the wires would be run to each site, there are pros and cons to both. After the bids went out I got several calls from electrical contractors telling me that’s not typically how it’s done, it would be cheaper if you had the lots broken up in four lots on one box and five on the other box, instead of a fuse box at each lot.”
After several more minutes of discussion, a motion by Alder Ray Spellman to accept the bid from Backyard Ltd for $233,600 with Pickett seconding the motion. The motion unanimously was approved. Each campsite will have it’s own breaker.
Improvements for Municipal Building
Darlington Municipal Building Head of Maintenance Al Hinderman has done cement work at the entrances of the Municipal Building and other items to be repaired. Hinderman report he’s close to the budget he submitted, but there is more to do.
Alder Dave Roelli asked, “Was this project approved?”
McDermott said, “We approved the borrowing of the monies. We got written up from the election board, so we had to do something. We didn’t have a choice.”
Roelli said, “You didn’t have time to bring this to the council?”
Pickett said, “I used to write those and they didn’t have to do them right away. I think the council should have been informed that we were doing this.”
Roelli said, “I think the point that Steve and I’m trying to make is we have council meeting twice a month and I wish someone would have come to the council and made the request.”
The projects and prices are listed here:
•New concrete sidewalks, steps and hand rails for step $10,000.
•New bathroom partitions in the women’s, men’s and Day Care bathrooms (on the first floor) - $14,170.
•Flake floor coating in the woman’s, men’s and Day Care bathrooms on the first floot $11,300.
•Elevator repair - $36,812.
•Heating system boiler repairs - $16,000.
For a total of $88,282. The city has borrowed funds to cover these items, but only $41,470 was earmarked for the projects (the boiler was not on the original list) with items coming in higher than anticipated.
The council went through the list one-by-one, evaluating each item, with Hinderman’s explanation of the items.
The council decided to remove the elevator repair expenses from the list, so a total of $51,470 was approved.
It was noted that the elevator is hardly used and the doors only stick when it’s humid. But down the road certain elevator components will fail and the council should be aware of an expense at that time. Pickett suggested budgeting money for future elevator repairs.
In other city business:
•It was noted that the work being done on East River Street was proceeding on time. Laterals will be worked on next week.
•A report of the city’s assessed value was discussed. The city’s assessed value is $141,157,900 which is up $4,201,400 compared to last year.
City Clerk-Treasurer Phil Risseeuw said, “The reason I put this on the agenda is on this sheet, you’ll notice that our assessed value (or equalized value) is $178,513,900 according to the state. So the city is below 80% so the city is losing tax dollars because we are not at 80% of the equalized value. I wanted you to know that before considering a contract with our assessor.”
•Approved a maintenance contract and computer assisted revaluation contract from Bruce Gardiner Appraisal Service, LLC in the amount of $26,400.
•Approved a proposed 2024 budget approval schedule.
•Approved advertising for utility billing/clerical support position in the Clerk-Treasurer’s office.
•Approved a temporary class B retailer liquor license for the Darlington Chamber for an outdoor event held on W. Ann Street on Sept. 20.
•Approved the August 2023 vouchers in the amount of $1,264,489.
