Brownton City Council signs contract for project funding

The Brownton City Council finally signed its contract with Rural Development of the United States Department of Agriculture for funding for its proposed $8.4 million street, utility and facility improvement project.
John Rodeberg of Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH), the city’s consulting engineering firm, told the City Council Sept. 6 that Rural Development and SEH had come to a compromise on the expected engineering fees for the project.
In August, Rodeberg said Rural Development wanted SEH to pare its expected engineering cost of 22 percent of the project to 17 percent.
“We ended up about 3 percent over what they hoped we would be at,” said Rodeberg.
While the good news is that the contract is now signed, the bad news is that the project is delayed yet again. SEH needed the contract in place before it could continue with final plans and specifications for the project.
“We’ll be lucky if we get any construction done next year,” said Rodeberg. “If it does happen, it will be in the fall.”
Rodeberg said the project will be done in two phases, one concentrating on facilities — such as some rehabilitation of the water tower — and on the underground utility and street work.
The City Council voted to approve the contract for the financing.

For more from the city council meeting, see the Sept. 14 print edition of The Chronicle.