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Cloverdale stormwater project going back to bid
CLOVERDALE — With the financials not matching up, leaders in Cloverdale are resetting on securing work for extensive stormwater improvements within the town.
Speaking during the Cloverdale Town Council’s regular meeting Tuesday, Town Manager Jason Hartman said bids for the project were received recently. However, he said they came “substantially” over the initial estimate.
He provided that a meeting was held with HWC Engineering, which has worked with the town on this project and others. Ultimately, the course was decided to reduce the scope and bid the project again.
The original scope entailed improvements in multiple street areas, most notably Stardust Hills and Doe Creek Drive. This included new piping, riprap and road rehabilitation.
“We all came to an agreement, there were a couple of areas of that project that we scaled back,” Hartman said. Those areas were determined to be West and Water streets.
Work related to Stardust Hills, the fire department, the northeast quadrant of the business district and South Doe Creek remain intact. However, including work with Stardust Road was determined possible if the previous streets were taken out.
The cost of the project as a whole was estimated before now at approximately $1 million.
The town was awarded a $600,000 grant from the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) toward the effort. Reducing the scope, Hartman advocated, means being able to use the grant and the stormwater fund balance.
“There may be more contractors involved this next time, there may be less, I just don’t know,” Hartman said, with the cost to rebid the project at $2,000. “We have had interest from other bidders since this time.”
While Hartman acknowledged that the full stormwater board had not reviewed HWC’s recommendation, member and councilman Larry Fidler supported moving forward.
With that, the council voted to rebid the project with the changes Hartman noted.
In other projects, Hartman reported that Beagle Club Road could be “wrapping up fairly soon,” as crews were pouring curbs on the south side earlier in the day. A new water main there was installed last month.
Hartman also spoke to continuing to get easements in the town’s part of extending a water main along Interstate 70. Meanwhile, the Indiana Department of Transportation recently started its long-anticipated work on the west side of U.S. 231.
As to the town’s project to receive and treat wastewater from Lieber State Recreation Area, Hartman related construction in the area of Stardust Hills having “not been too bad so far.” However, with a forced main being bored into the ground, he said two water service lines had been hit.
“With all the utilities out there and to only hit two water lines, that’s not too bad,” Hartman said, assuring that the lines were repaired. “I expect it to happen again, but that’s part of doing underground work.”
Hartman provided that work at Lieber, which entails shutting down its wastewater treatment plant, would be starting soon. This is under the purview of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
In other business:
• After months of delays, Hartman announced the town now owning the lot at 54 N. Lafayette St. The lot was deeded to the Putnam County Commissioners, which then handed the quitclaim to the town.
Hartman added there being two trees on the street needing to be removed. Noting that two quotes he received are not comparable regarding having and not having stump removal, the council asked him to pursue them further.
• The council adopted Resolution 2024-2 outlining a signing authority under a liability mutual agreement.
• The council approved two separate contractors’ quotes for stump removal and replacing concrete on North Main Street. Seven trees were previously removed as they caused significant damage to the adjacent sidewalks.
The tree stump removal came in at $1,100, while about 105 feet of new concrete will come at $4,440. The contractors were not specified.
• The council appointed James McKee to the town’s board of zoning appeals. McKee was previously tapped to represent the town on the county’s new area plan commission, but is required to be on both boards.
• Hartman spoke to two grants that were recently received locally, one to Cloverdale Main Street and the other to the town itself.
As to the former, the organization received a $17,000 grant from the Putnam Community Foundation to install new park benches and trash cans downtown.
Meanwhile, the town was awarded $550,000 from the Indiana Department of Transportation toward purchasing and installing new regulatory signs (stop signs, speed limit signs, etc.). Hartman noted that the project will not occur until next year.
With Council Vice President Brice Howell absent, Clerk-Treasurer Kelly Maners, Town Marshal Adam Hull and Town Attorney Richard Shagley joined Hartman and the council for the meeting.
The next regular meeting of the Cloverdale Town Council is set for Tuesday, April 9 at 7 p.m. at Cloverdale Town Hall.