Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By LARRY HOLCOMBE
Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission awarded a $9,554,000 bid to build Phase I of a proposed water plant to C.D. Smith Construction at a special meeting on June 29.
Jeff Sjoquist of Coleman Engineering presented financing details from the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development. He said two recent developments allowed the project to move forward. First, Rural Development obligated an additional $1,580,000 in grant and $361,000 in loan to the project, and the city received a waiver from the federal Build America Buy America program that would have added costs to the project.
Sjoquist said in the end, Rural Development allocated $5,772,000 in grant and $5,800,000 in loans to the project. He said he expected the interest rate to be about 2.5% and was hopeful rates were headed down before the paperwork was done.
City Manager Paul Anderson said he didn’t expect water rates to go up with this announcement, as they had already been adjusted in anticipation of the project.
“We assume construction would start in mid to late August,” Sjoquist told The Globe, adding it’s unknown if C.D. Smith will be able to work throughout the winter with this later start. “As of now, the completion date is November of 2024.”
The city’s well field and pumping operation is located north of the city in Ironwood Township.
The project had languished for some time, never getting off the drawing board due to funding issues. First proposed as a water treatment facility with the aim of removing manganese from the city’s well water, the price tag came in at $14,347,000 in July 2022, far above the city’s construction budget of $7,657,474; so the project was split into two parts. Phase I will build a new pump house, and Phase II with another yet to be secured set of funding will build the enhanced water treatment process.
The Phase I bids came in high again in March, but Rural Development’s additional grant/loan allocation and the BABA waiver in June allowed the project to go ahead.
As for funding Phase II, Sjoquist said an additional $10,990,000 has been applied for through the state’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund. He said they expect preliminary scores on the application in about a month, and a final announcement of grants and loans is expected in September.
HDR of Ann Arbor is the engineering firm for the entire project. Sjoquist said Coleman is working with them locally.
C.D. Smith has offices in several cities in Wisconsin, including Fond du Lac, Milwaukee and Madison.
Gundlach Champion of Iron Mountain had the next lowest bid on Phase I at $9,990,000.
In other news, the commission also approved a grant application to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to help fund improvements at Hiawatha Park. Community Development Director Tom Bergman said they plan to spend $200,000 to construct new playground equipment.
He said they have a donation of $50,000 in hand and hope to add to that through a MEDC crowdfunding grant program. The hope is to raise an additional $50,000 through a 60-day online crowdfunding effort beginning around Festival Ironwood in mid July. If they meet that goal, the MEDC will kick in $50,000. Additionally, Bergman said the person who donated the original money has planned to donate $50,000 more, meaning the city will have its $200,000 for the project.
Bergman said the work would be done in 2024 and that a second phase of the project would build a new pavilion in 2025, but additional funding would be needed for that.
He said a similar crowdfunding effort a few years ago helped build the Art Park on Aurora Street downtown.
Finally, city officials are preparing to celebrate the Memorial Building’s 100th birthday. The centerpiece of the celebration on Friday will be the taking of a large group photo in front of the building – recreating a photo taken at a state American Legion convention in 1923 in conjunction with the building’s dedication.
City officials are inviting everyone to come and be in the photo, set to be taken at 5:35 p.m.
Before the photo, Mayor Kim Corcoran and Commissioner Jim Mildren will give guided tours of the building. Tours will be held from 2 to 3:30 p.m., starting on the half hour from in front of the city clerk’s office on the first floor.
A short program will be held at 5 p.m., beginning with the playing of the national anthem by the Luther L. Wright High School band under the direction of Kirk McBrayer.
Corcoran will say words of welcome, followed by another song by the band. Mildren will read a poem he wrote about the building and the occasion.
Lt. Col. David Manki (U.S. Army, retired) will give a commemorative speech, and Corcoran will then call for people to gather for the 100-year celebration photo to be taken by Jake Ring.
