Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood — The city of Ironwood will seek bids on obtaining safety fencing for three or four former mining sites.
City commissioners agreed Monday to seek the bids as part of $21,000 that has been budgeted for safety around the sites, including sinkholes.
City Manager Scott Erickson said the money was obtained from the sale of easements to Xcel Energy.
Erickson said “key locations” would be targeted.
Commissioners also agreed to spend $8,200 for patching Ayer Street, from Lake Street to the Bonnie cut-off.
Erickson said cracks in that section of roadway are getting bigger and the Gogebic County Road Commission has a new crack-sealing machine that will be used for the work.
Commissioners agreed to approve a contract between the city and the road commission.
Erickson said $3,000 of the $8,200 would be used for materials. He said city employees will help the county workers on the job.
Commissioner Brandon Tauer asked Erickson if the city and county could cooperate on future projects using the new machine. Erickson said that’s possible.
Tauer suggested repairs to Van Buskirk Road, although he said it may take more than patching to get that job done.
Commissioners heard a complaint from Paul Grbavcich about Lawrence and Celia streets, which he claims were poorly engineered and need to be repaired properly.
He said having Ruotsala Construction come in on a change order to get the work done shouldn’t be charged as an added burden on taxpayers.
After the 30-minute meeting chaired by Kim Corcoran in the absence of Mayor Annette Burchell, commissioners went into closed session to discuss contract negotiations with the police and Local 1538 unions.
