Huntingburg Common Council meeting June 13: overpass update
Huntingburg — City and County representatives met with Audrey Schmitt, project manager with Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT), on Monday this week to begin the planning process for the railroad overpass in Huntingburg.
The next step in the process is to file requests for proposals (RFP). INDOT will review the proposals and choose the top three consultants based on a scoring system that includes criteria such as the firms’ technical expertise, history of project management with INDOT, approach to project and project management.
The three firms with the top score will then be interviewed and a five-member committee comprised of three representatives from the city of Huntingburg and two from the county will then evaluate the three firms and make a selection.
This process will take about three to four months.
After selection, negotiations will take place with that firm to determine the cost and scope of the contract. The firm will be responsible for the right-of-way and environmental studies.
Huntingburg Mayor Denny Spinner will be appearing before the Dubois County Commissioners to formalize their pledge to financially support the project. The project is an 80-20 project with Huntingburg responsible for 20 percent of the cost and the state 80 percent of the cost.
Construction on the project is slated to begin in 2016 with a proposed completion in the fall of 2018.[hr]
-Mayor Spinner introduced James Zellman of Honeywell, a Fortune 100 company that works in energy efficiency methodologies. He will be conducting preliminary audits of all the city’s facilities to begin the process of increasing the energy efficiency of these spaces.
-Energy Superintendent John Reutepohler informed the council the city will have conduct 106 digs to test the thickness of 8.4 miles of gas distribution line from Midwestern Gas. The digs will have to be completed every 416 feet along the 8.4 miles. He is meeting with a representative of a company that provides a vacuum excavator — a excavation machine that shoots water into the dirt to create a slurry and then vacuums the water-dirt mixture out — on Friday to see demonstrations of the machine. County Highway Superintendent Steve Berg is also interested in the machine due to the potential reduced cost of excavating lines under county roads. Reutepohler wants to complete the 106 digs by the end of this year.
-Reutepohler was also given the go ahead to contact the 13 leaseholders at the gas storage field about the city shutting it down by December 31. Under the agreement the leaseholders have drawn free natural gas from the field while it was in operation. The leaseholders have the option to maintain their own well head after the city closes the field, but clean up and permitting will be at the owner’s own expense.
-The council commended all who were involved in the gas storage field explosion and fire on Monday. (Story here)
-Heard an update from Hank Menke on the I-67 project.
-The council approved paying Rebecca Akard, a data specialist in Texas, $5,900 to extract data from the city’s old utility software and convert it to a format that can be used by the new software to be installed this year.
