City approves final bills for property owners from Perkins St. project

Most property owners along Perkins Street will end up paying slightly less than the original estimate for the road reconstruction project that took place last summer.

Last summer, the city of Medford rebuilt Perkins St. from the intersection with 4th St. to the Perkins St. Bridge at the Black River. The total length of the project was 1,675 feet. Under city policies, the cost of the project is divided between the city, utilities and property owners. Property owners abutting the road are charged for curb and gutter, driveway aprons, laterals, 20% of the engineering costs, and one-third of the blacktop cost.

The total estimated special assessments at the beginning of the project were $152,614.20. The actual cost was slightly lower at $141,461.28.

Special assessments ranged from $1,658.21 for 346 S. Main Street to $15,738.38 charged against Sierra Pacific based on road frontage. The project also includes three city-owned parcels and the cityowned Medford Area Chamber of Commerce office.

Under the city’s special assessment policy, property owners have the option to pay it off entirely immediately or pay for it over a period of years as an annual special assessment on their property taxes with 4.75% interest charged.

In other road project action, council members approved the bids for this year’s summer projects.

The city has planned the following three projects for this summer: reconstruction of Madison Street, sanitary sewer lining on Hwy 13 from Perkins St. to the Highway Shop and for replacement and relocation of the water main serving Medford Area Senior High School.

The engineer’s estimate from Ayres Associates for the reconstruction of Madison St. was $347,400 plus a contingency of $34,800. The low bidder for the project was from Frances Melvin Inc. at a cost of $396,767.17.

Switlick and Sons was the second low bidder at $484,426 and Haas Sons bid $515,897.

For the sewer lining project, the engineer estimate was $151,000 with a $15,100 contingency. The low bid on the project came from Visu-Sewer at a cost of $119,925. The engineer noted that Visu-Sewer is a large company that is specialized in this type of work. Other bidders were Hyrdo-Klean at $162,663, Haas Sons at $170,803 and Insituform Tech at $172,040. This project will be completed using federal ARPA funds.

The third project had an engineering estimate of $358,900 plus a contingency of $35,900. The low bidder was M& E Construction at $432,784. M& E did much of the recent water line replacement work on Whelen Ave. Other bidders were Haas Sons at $533,099 and Frances Melvin at $765,821. The low bidders were accepted for each of the projects.

Developers agreement

The city of Medford is giving a local developer a boost under a city initiative to increase the number of housing units in the community.

Council members approved a developers agreement with Garett and Grace Krug for property located at 812, 814, 818 and 820 N. Ninth St.

Garret and Grace Krug applied for loan assistance from the city to finish their current duplex and start a second duplex this spring when weather permits. The estimate for both projects is $860,000, with the loan guidelines that have been approved by City Council, they have applied for a loan of $86,000 for ten years.

The city had previously set aside a pool of $1 million to be used to provide up to 10% of the construction cost of accepted projects with a no-interest loan that must be paid back within 10 years.

The Krug’s project is for higher-end duplexes measuring 1,600 square feet on each side with 2.5 car garages. The structures are designed to meet the needs of people age 50 and older with single level construction and doorways wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs.

In other business, council members:

  Approved purchasing a replacement pickup truck for the public works department through Medford Motors, which had the low bid of $39,883 for a four wheel drive, extended cab, F-150. Medford Chrysler Center submitted a bid of $40,096 for a Dodge Ram 1500.

  Adopted the designated unreserved accounts for the city. The 17 general fund nonlapsing accounts total $1.45 million, with two accounts in refuse and recycling totaling $373,721.32 and two accounts in the wastewater utility totaling

$22,382.14.

  Approved the summer wage schedule with a 50 cent per hour base wage increase over last year. The base wage for the head lifeguard will be $14.50 per hour, the assistant head lifeguard will make $14 per hour, the lifeguards will be paid $13.50 per hour, the attendant will be paid $9.50 per hour. Public works summer help will be paid $11.25 per hour.

  Approved hiring Brooke Wagerer for the summer months at rate of pay of $15 per hour to assist with a waste monitoring project at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

  Recommended keeping pool fees for passes and day use the same as in 2022. The family pass is $70 per year for up to six members for city residents and $110 for non city residents. Adult season passes are $35 for city residents and $60 for non residents. Area municipalities can choose to make an annual donation which would allow people in those communities to pay the resident rate.

  Recommended approval of a new park shelter agreement with a cost increase of $5 per day from $50 to $55 which includes the sales tax the city has to pay. The changes in the form streamline it and make it easier for people to see things such as the deadline for when they have to pick up keys. The new form also includes a provision that if a shelter renter forgets to pick up the key during normal business hours, they will need to contact the sheriff’s department and arrangements will be made to pick the key up with a minimum of a two hours overtime pay rate to be charged to the renter. The cost of replacing missing padlocks is $20 and missing keys is $5.