MONROE - The city will wait one more year to attack the 8th and 9th streets construction project in order to include full replacement of water and sewer mains.
Common Council voted 5-3, with one abstention, Tuesday to postpone the project. President Dan Henke made the motion; Alderman Thurston Hanson seconded his motion.
The current project was to include all new sanitary sewer mains, but new water lines along the 7th Avenue to 20th Avenue route were only going to be replaced at intersections where new storm sewers locations would interfere with them. The water utility cost would have been about $182,000, in the 2009 project budget. Monroe Mayor Ron Marsh said the complete replacement of water lines would cost the city about $570,000.
"The delay will allow the city time to investigate water grants, but we can't wait to (start) redesign of infrastructure," Henke said.
Henke was speaking via telephone from his home where he was confined following a surgery.
The vote came after an extended discussion following Marsh's presentation of the history of the project, including escalating costs.
About 16 citizens attended the council meeting, several of whom spoke for and against the project.
Henke was adamant about having all water, sanitary and storm sewer mains replaced in the project, and twice expressed his concern during the discussion at the council meeting Tuesday.
With the 2008 audit now completed, grants for 2011 water and sanitary sewer projects can be applied for. Marsh said such grants for water are hard to get.
Eighty percent of the widening of the road is being funded by the state Department of Transportation.
That grant can be carried forward to 2011; however, some state paperwork will have to be resubmitted. The grant cannot be used without widening the road to three lanes, and the city's funding is capped at the 2009 total amount. Any extra costs caused by the delay, for example due to inflation, must be paid by the city.
Hanson said the project was too massive to take on during a Cheese Days year. He suggested the city do the project "in bits and pieces," if at all.
"People have told me 'thank god" since the Board of Public Works stopped the project," he said. Hanson made the motion to postpone the project, which passed, last Monday at the Board of Public Works.
The project and the grant "is a typical government project, which has mushroomed into a big mess," Hanson said.
Paul Hannes, Mark Coplien, Thurston Hanson, Dan Henke, and Kent Kallembach voted in favor of postponing the project Tuesday; Neil Hunter, Charles Koch, and Charles Schuringa voted against it. Jan Lefevre abstained from the vote. Alderman Keith Ingwell was absent.
Common Council voted 5-3, with one abstention, Tuesday to postpone the project. President Dan Henke made the motion; Alderman Thurston Hanson seconded his motion.
The current project was to include all new sanitary sewer mains, but new water lines along the 7th Avenue to 20th Avenue route were only going to be replaced at intersections where new storm sewers locations would interfere with them. The water utility cost would have been about $182,000, in the 2009 project budget. Monroe Mayor Ron Marsh said the complete replacement of water lines would cost the city about $570,000.
"The delay will allow the city time to investigate water grants, but we can't wait to (start) redesign of infrastructure," Henke said.
Henke was speaking via telephone from his home where he was confined following a surgery.
The vote came after an extended discussion following Marsh's presentation of the history of the project, including escalating costs.
About 16 citizens attended the council meeting, several of whom spoke for and against the project.
Henke was adamant about having all water, sanitary and storm sewer mains replaced in the project, and twice expressed his concern during the discussion at the council meeting Tuesday.
With the 2008 audit now completed, grants for 2011 water and sanitary sewer projects can be applied for. Marsh said such grants for water are hard to get.
Eighty percent of the widening of the road is being funded by the state Department of Transportation.
That grant can be carried forward to 2011; however, some state paperwork will have to be resubmitted. The grant cannot be used without widening the road to three lanes, and the city's funding is capped at the 2009 total amount. Any extra costs caused by the delay, for example due to inflation, must be paid by the city.
Hanson said the project was too massive to take on during a Cheese Days year. He suggested the city do the project "in bits and pieces," if at all.
"People have told me 'thank god" since the Board of Public Works stopped the project," he said. Hanson made the motion to postpone the project, which passed, last Monday at the Board of Public Works.
The project and the grant "is a typical government project, which has mushroomed into a big mess," Hanson said.
Paul Hannes, Mark Coplien, Thurston Hanson, Dan Henke, and Kent Kallembach voted in favor of postponing the project Tuesday; Neil Hunter, Charles Koch, and Charles Schuringa voted against it. Jan Lefevre abstained from the vote. Alderman Keith Ingwell was absent.