Some downtown sidewalks still need repair

By Barbara Brown
If six downtown businesses do not repair the sidewalks in front of their shops by Oct. 1, the cityís Public Works will do it for them.
Late last summer, Public Works director Gary Schaefer made his rounds downtown evaluating sidewalks and determined that many were in disrepair and needed to be replaced.
Business owners were told to repair their sidewalks by June 1 this year.
When that deadline came and went, Schaefer and his crew toured the town again and found several sidewalks had not been replaced.
Reminder letters were sent and an extension of the deadline was made to have the sidewalks repaired by Aug. 20.
Some business owners seem to have made no attempts to repair their sidewalks and if they continue on that route, the city council authorized Schaefer to seek a bid for replacements.
Bills would be sent to the business owners if the sidewalks are repaired by a city contractor.
The businesses named at the Aug. 25 city council meeting were: North Branch Floral, 6138 Main St.; Dr. Steven Clawson, 6364 Main St.; Video Vault, 6118 Main St.; Jon Moulton, 6434 Main St.; Dr. Richard Johnson, 6460 Main St.; and New China Buffet, 38811 Forest Boulevard.
Donald Wheeler, owner of North Branch Floral, petitioned the council at the Aug. 11 meeting that he should not be held responsible for the damage to the sidewalk and curb in front of his business because most of his customers drive to the store rather than walk and large vehicles like tractor-trailers and dump trucks jump the curb and cause damage.
Dr. Clawson submitted a written request to the council for an extension because the man he had contracted with for the job never showed up and decided he didnít want the job.
Clawson told the council in his letter that he is in the process of getting another contractor set up to do the job.
Another downtown issue was resolved Monday night when the council accepted a plan from City Engineer Julie Dresel per their request to extend city sewer access from Hwy. 95 at 5th Ave. south to Maple Street.
The resolution came after several months of discussions with the city and a 5th Ave. resident. and claimed a faulty system, installed at construction and allowed by a previous city council, caused problems in her house.
The line will be extended south past her property line to the property line of the Qwest building for possible future hook-up.
Dresel told the council it was a good idea to extend the sewer line now while the street is open rather than wait to see if other home or business owners would want to connect and tear up the road again.
Also at the Aug. 25 meeting, the council:
ï Awarded a bid to repave various sections of road in North Branch to Magnum Co. for $118,583.52. The city had budgeted $150,000 for the work.
ï Rejected bids it had received to extend Hemingway Avenue and finish a water service loop between Wood Duck Ponds and Casselberry Ponds developments.
The bids were $2,057,931 from A-1 Excavating, $2,711,073 from Barbarossa & Sons and $12,420,894. All the bids had mathematical errors and were significantly higher than the engineerís estimate of $1,843,439.
City staff was asked to re-bid the project for spring construction.
ï Approved a plan to build 410th Street and Fletcher Ave. as paved roads that would allow access to a new part of the North Branch Industrial Park to the west of CR30. Staff will seek bids for the project, estimated to cost $747,000.

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