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The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.
Published May 10, 2023
OB to spend $375,589 for city hall improvements
OSAGE BEACH – The Board of Aldermen have made the first move to spruce up City Hall by approving the first reading of a contract for various improvements.
The improvements will consist of paving, sidewalks, curbs and so on for the City Hall property.
The city budgeted $612,379 for “Building Improvements” for the Fiscal Year 2023.
Four bids were received for the project with Don Schnieders Excavating Company, Inc being chosen.
The bids and the amounts were:
The engineer’s estimate for the project was $345,548.25.
The board approved the lowest bid plus an additional $10,000 in case something unexpected comes up during the project. The Board of Aldermen should address the second reading at the next board meeting.
In other business at last week’s Board of Aldermen meeting:
Kevin Crooks, Public Works Operations Manager, explained why this pump is needed and why the city has to pay for a “quick ship” option.
“In March, one of the existing pumps failed mechanically and the pump is of the age that repair is not cost effective. The quote includes a ‘Quick Ship’ option for an additional $6,646.05 as the high volume station is on one pump and standard delivery would require 16-18 weeks. The pump from Municipal Pump Inc, a sole-source supplier for our pumps, is $50,155.51 (plus freight).”
Crooks said that if the Quick Ship option is not chosen and the remaining pump does go out then the staff will have to manually pump the station 24-hours a day.
He said they have done this before and it cost the city approximately $8,000 to manually pump for 48 hours. Doing this while waiting 16-18 weeks would far exceed the $6,646.05 Quick Ship cost.
Crooks and the board appeared to not like the entire idea but due to the supply company, Municipal Pump Inc, being the sole-source for these pumps the city has no choice.
The city received a Street Light petition in accordance with Osage Beach Ordinances in late February for the installation of a new street light at the corner of College Blvd and Bradford Drive.
“I have been in contact with the petitioner as we have been doing our research on whether this petition meets all of the criteria,” said Mike Welty, Assistant City Administrator. “Across the street and just a few houses down from this location, there used to be a business that had a light in their parking lot. That business is no longer there and neither is the parking lot light that used to provide light in this area.”
Welty inquired with Ameren about the cost of a street light at this corner and Ameren responded by saying they do not currently have the proper infrastructure in this area to accommodate the city and will provide a quote on the cost.
“We are being told that the cost of putting a light in this area will exceed $8,000 and that we will have to get on a waiting list in order to have this work scheduled,” said Welty. “It could take some time before they get us scheduled for this work. Once we get a quote and timeline from Ameren we will be able to tell you more, but the petition does meet all of the requirements.”
The board approved the petition but this only gets the process started. There is no time frame as to when and if the light will be installed.
In the old business, the board approved the second reading of the following bills:
“The vegetation in the pond during the 2022 season was very unsightly and made fishing in some areas difficult,” Frederick Gregory, Parks and Recreation Manager Park told the board in his report. “Staff attempted to eliminate the vegetation but do not have a background in pond management. This agreement was discussed in the past with prior Park Management but did not move forward due to certain access restrictions at that time. These restrictions are no longer in place and partnering with the Department of Conservation will be extremely beneficial to the Parks & Recreation Department for management of the City Park Pond.”
He also stated that this agreement opens up additional grant opportunities with the Missouri Department of Conservation.
This new version of the contract is for one year with two more optional years and it also removes their restrictions on working with other clients within Osage Beach and provides an updated fee schedule.
The next meeting should take place on Thursday, May 18.
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