By Debby Woodin
dwoodin@joplinglobe.com
Preparations for more street widening and agreements for sewer line work to eventually hook Duquesne and Silver Creek into the Joplin wastewater system are on the agenda for Joplin City Council action.
During the council’s regular meeting at 6 p.m. today at City Hall, council approval will be sought for a contract for more widening work on Connecticut Avenue.
The contract calls for Newman Brothers Construction to be awarded the contract for the last section of the current widening project at a cost of $555,412. This would be to widen the section that will be beneath the railroad overpass being built between 24th and 26th streets.
The city received six bids, and the Newman Brothers bid was the lowest. The others ranged from $586,644 to $648,893.
A contract for survey work for the final widening of Schifferdecker Avenue also is posed. Tri-State Engineering Inc. would be the contractor at a cost of $39,450. The firm would survey the street from Seventh Street to 32nd Street in connection with a plan to widen that stretch to five lanes.
Both the Connecticut and Schifferdecker widening projects were on the list of projects to be accomplished by the three-eighths-cent capital improvements sales tax approved by voters in 2004.
A new agreement for wastewater service to the city of Duquesne also is proposed.
According to a staff memo, the existing agreement from 2003 will be antiquated once Duquesne finishes the first phase of work on its sewage collection system.
The new agreement specifies the nature of the services to be provided and how residents are to be billed, specifically as part of their water service with Missouri American Water Co. The rates will be those currently charged. The agreement requires Duquesne to have a plumbing code in effect and forbids anyone outside the Duquesne city limits from being connected to the system.
Also proposed is a contract to construct an interceptor and gravity sewer line extension for the village of Silver Creek. An agreement to provide sewage treatment for the village was approved by the council in November. This agreement requires Joplin and Silver Creek to share the cost of installing the interceptor line under Range Line Road to the north and west of the Wheelen RV Center property. Joplin would pay 25 percent, with Silver Creek covering 75 percent.
The low bid submitted for the work is $123,435 by Kenny Singer Construction Co. Inc.
In addition to its regular meeting at 6 p.m., the council will have an informal meeting at 5:15 p.m. The council is to hear an annual report on the North Park Crossing tax increment financing district and discuss hours of operation for city pools this coming season.
