×

Contract awarded for Humboldt’s downtown lights

-Messenger photo by Elijah Decious
The city of Humboldt will soon undergo a downtown revitalization project to remove all trees downtown, replace decorative lamps, earmark funds for storefront facades and replace a stop light with stop signs.

HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt City Council moved forward Monday with one of the key details of the downtown revitalization project, finalized payments for the fencing project at Humboldt Municipal Airport, fielded concerns about drainage on 11th Street North and added new qualifications for one zoning area.

Downtown lights

A bid from JP Services in North Mankato, Minnesota, beat out one other for installation of the downtown lights central to part of Humboldt’s downtown revitalization project.

The bid of $144,145 will cover all the decorative light poles, the lights themselves and the physical components of the lights installed.

Another bid from Viking came in substantially higher. Humboldt’s engineering company reached out to a third party, but did not receive a bid from that company.

The 2019-20 project, at a cost of $1.35 million, also includes the removal of all trees, improvement of storefronts and replacing a stop light with stop signs while bumping out crosswalks accordingly.

Church zones

The C-2 General Commercial District, an area zoned by Humboldt’s Planning and Zoning Committee, will now allow for the addition of churches and Sunday schools. City Council approved of the addition after concerns had been brought to their attention previously by Jeff Harklau, according to City Administrator Travis Goedken.

The C-2 zone is primarily for highways and general commercial use, he said.

A vacancy on the Planning and Zoning Committee was also filled this week by Harklau, whose mayoral appointment was confirmed by City Council.

Drainage issues

Jet Company of Humboldt brought drainage concerns to City Council’s attention this week, with issues on the east side of the property, a trailer manufacturer.

The company is requesting that the city alleviate some of the issues coming from one of the company’s large buildings. Goedken said it’s not the first time the city has dealt with the drainage issue.

“It’s the same issue in a new spot,” he said.

The problem seems to stem from drainage off of a large roof line with no gutters, that sheds water into an adjacent parking lot, flooding a low spot.

The city previously made such improvements to the benefit of Jet Company, Goedken said. The city’s engineering estimate came in at about $70,000 for the fix.

“It’s not a budgeted item, nor do we have funds available to pay for this improvement from the storm fund,” the administrator said, telling the Messenger the solution could potentially be paid for out of urban renewal funds available in the district.

Airport fencing improvement

Fencing at Humboldt Municipal Airport was paid for this week according to the city’s contract with American Fence Company of Iowa for the 2019 fencing improvement project. The project came in at a true cost of about $51,000 plus engineering fees, according to Goedken.

The project, finished last month, added about 1,500 feet of field (wire) fence and about 500 feet of chain link fence to the airport’s existing fences.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today