The Fort Dodge City Council awarded a nearly $1 million contract Monday to Rasch Construction to help alleviate flooding in some of the worst parts of town — a contract that came in well under the engineer’s estimate.

The contract for $977,318 was awarded to the Fort Dodge company that significantly undercut competing bidders, most of whom came in $200,000 to $400,000 higher. The next lowest bidder was Crow River Construction of New London, Minnesota, which came in over $230,000 higher.

Bidders were:

• Rasch Construction of Fort Dodge: $977,318.

• Crow River Construction of New London, Minnesota: $1,211,493.50.

• J&K Contracting of Urbandale: $1,331,331.

• On Track Construction of Nevada: $1,381,918.

Rasch came in $109,000 under the engineer’s estimate, which was welcome news to the City Council, who was happy to award the contract to a local business.

“It shows we’re getting good, competitive bids,” said Mayor Matt Bemrich.

The City Council approved a contract in September with Snyder and Associates to study the south central area of Fort Dodge, bound by 15th Avenue South, South 21st Street, 13th Avenue South and South 28th Street, which is inundated by significant flooding during moderate and heavy rainfall, thanks to undersized storm sewers in place now.

The study to determine the proper corrections also encompassed downtown storm sewer pipes near Second Avenue South and 12th Street down to a storm outlet by the Des Moines River, which seemed to be under capacity as well.

Phase 1 of the infrastructure project was completed in 2018. Phase 2 was completed earlier this year.

“This is a continuation of a long-term plan,” said Councilman Terry Moehnke of Phase 3. “It’s a good project and continuation of what they’ve been planning for years.”