Local firm gets striping bid as competitor withdraws

A local company will get the bid for street striping after an out-of-town vendor withdrew their bid.

Members of the Medford City Council on Monday night approved awarding the street striping bid to Jensen Chip & Seal Coating of Medford at a cost of $6,950.

Jensen had been the second low-bidder on the work behind Seal it & Striping of Dorchester who had submitted a bid of $6,920.25 for the work. According to city coordinator Joe Harris, when the city contacted Mark Leichtman, owner of Seal it & Striping for references, Leichtman told Harris he did not have time and that he would like to rescind the bid.

Other bidders for the work were Lakes Asphalt Maintenance at $7,986 and Fahrner Asphalt at $29,500.

In other street business, council members approved the updated capital plan. The plan had been altered to shift the reconstruction of the remainder of Perkins St. so that it did not coincide with the county’s planned work on CTH O.

The project timelines are as follows: 2022 — Reconstruct South Seventh from Ogden to Broadway; Resurface Madison Street from Wheelock Street to Brucker Street 2023 — Reconstruct Perkins Street from South Fourth to Perkins Street Bridge; Resurface Wisconsin Street from Spruce Street to South Park Street; Drill Water Main under River at the intersection of Perkins Street and South Wisconsin Avenue 2024 — Resurface Ninth Street from Broadway Avenue south 700 feet; Reconstruct South Second Street from Conrad Drive north 700 feet (fully urbanized); Participate with State in Repaving STH 13 and STH 64; Replace water main on South Whelen Avenue 2025 — Reconstruct North Second Street from Broadway Avenue to Pine Street (1,520 feet); Resurface Ninth Street from Well #12 Driveway to Eastview Drive 2026 — Reconstruct North Seventh from Allman Street to Taylor Street; Resurface Billings Avenue; Replace water main from Billings Avenue to 1055 West Broadway Avenue 2027 — Reconstruct South Fourth Street from Perkins Street to Clark Street (1,000 feet); Resurface North Main 2028 — Reconstruct Clark Street from South Seventh to South Fourth Street; Resurface Eastview Drive 2029 — Reconstruct North Third from Broadway Avenue to Taylor Street; Reconstruct College Street from Bruce Street to Donald Street (fully urbanized); Resurface South Whelen Avenue Looking to this coming year’s projects, the council held a public hearing for Shattuck Street residents with questions before passing a preliminary motion to approve setting special assessments on the properties abutting the road.

As with other road reconstruction projects, the city levies a special assessment on the adjoining property owners for 1/3 the cost of the black top, the curb and gutter, sewer and water laterals, driveway apron and a portion of the engineering costs. As with other special assessments, property owners will have the option to pay it all at once or have it added to their taxes over 10 years at a rate of 1% over prime. The property owners will be billed on the actual amount of the project with the assessment amounts typically set in early winter and the first payment not due until the next year’s tax bills are mailed out.

Lawn work

The city of Medford is phasing out of the lawn care business and instead contracting with Black River Industries (BRI) for the work.

With the Friends of the Downtown deciding to discontinue the hanging flower baskets project, the city will not need as much summer help and approached BRI about providing lawn care services.

According to Harris, BRI submitted a contract to provide a lawn crew to perform 10-15 hours of trimming around trees and buildings per week at a cost of $24 per hour. The City would still continue to have someone hired to mow the lawns.

Council members approved the contract with BRI for the work.

In other business, board members:

_ Approved opening the city pool on schedule in June with restrictions on access to the locker rooms and a limit of 200 people at a time in the pool. The restrictions which are due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, reduce the maximum pool capacity by about one-third. According to Harris, the city has only rarely ever had the pool at its listed capacity of 300 people and said the highest turnout last year was well below 200 people.

_ Approved moving money from the other project accounts to bring the non lapsing Park Building account to $368,918.96. In 2021, the City was required to send the balance of $317,000 that was in the revolving loan fund to the state. The money is to be returned through the Community Development Block Grant-Public Facilities/Planning grant reimbursement. Since the Wastewater Utility had an open Community Development Block Grant, the city was able to use the Revolving Loan Fund money towards the city’s portion of the match. The city in turn is putting the $215,160 the public works department had allocated for the shed and $101,840 from the wastewater utility that had been designated for the shed to the park building fund.

_ Approved a Class A retail liquor license to Tease Tanning Plus Gifts on Main to allow the store to sell wine.

_ Approved purchasing a new Ford Police Interceptor squad car from Medford Motors at a net price of $26,314 after trade-in of $7,000. Medford Motors was the only dealership to bid on the vehicle.The city had also solicited bids from Kayser Ford and Ewald Automotive for the new squad.

_ Approved purchasing the former Brucker Building at corner Main St. and Division St. from Taylor County for the back taxes on the parcel. The city is currently in negotiations with a developer to purchase the property and develop it. In agreeing to the purchase from the county, the city is continuing with the development negotiations.