Ark Valley News - Rest of Fifth Street to be reconstructed

Rest of Fifth Street to be reconstructed
By Chris Strunk
Last Updated: July 12, 2018

The rest of Fifth Street will soon go under the knife. And the surgery will be cheaper than the city thought.

The Valley Center City Council learned July 3 that it will cost less than $1 million to reconstruct Fifth Street from the Fiddler's Creek neighborhood to Broadway. The original estimate was $1.9 million.

The work will be done by Cornejo & Sons, which is in the middle of the reconstruction of Fifth from the bridge over the Little Ditch to the Fiddler's Creek intersection. City officials said Cornejo & Sons is using the same pricing structure for the rest of the project, which allowed it to come in under budget.

“Unit prices were already bid in a competitive setting on phase one. That's the only reason we're comfortable with this," said Josh Golka with the city's engineering firm.

With the go-ahead, Cornejo will start the second phase immediately, Golka said.

The project likely will completely shut down the road, Golka said.

One lane for westbound traffic had been open.

In a related move, the council approved a contract with PEC to provide full-time on-site inspection and testing for the second phase.

In other business July 3, the council set a maximum property tax limit of $2,796,941 for the city's proposed 2019 budget. Though the amount of revenue from property taxes increased from 2018 because of an increase in assessed valuation, the property tax mill levy is proposed to remain the same, 54.9 mills.

A public hearing was set for 7 p.m. Aug. 7.

Council members Ray Strunk, Matt Stamm and Brendan McGettigan were not at the meeting.