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Street work in the City of Gaylord this year will be limited to patching and crack sealing.

City Council members, Wednesday, agreed to delay a planned street and utility reconstruction project until 2007.

According to City Administratro Lonny Johnson, the delay was recommended because of the following reasons.

• The project was falling behind schedule;

• The EDA TIF audit is not yet resolved;

• There would be negative consequences of seeking bids late in the summer when most contractors already have their work;

Earlier this year, city officials reported that approximately $2 million in street and utility improvements were planned for 2006. It was considered as phase 1 of city wide street and utilility upgrade project. Areas included in Phase 1 were:

• First Street from Highway 19 to Lincoln Avenue (County Road 21);

• Second Street from Highway 19 to High Avenue;

• High Avenue from Second Street to Division Street;

• Lake Avenue - north of Lincoln Avenue (County Road 21);

• Lincoln Avenue (County Road 21) from Third Street to the north extension of First Street East;

Initial plans were to open bids for the project in early July and begin construction by the end of that month. Due to changes in plans, the project was reportedly falling behind schedule. The City now feels it is getting too late for a project in 2006.

All parties involved supported delaying street and utility work until next year including project engineers from Short Elliot Hendrickson Inc. (SEH) and Sibley County Engineer Darin Mielke. The Sibley County Engineer is involved because plans include improvements on County Road 21.

Mielke met last week with City Administrator Johnson, Street Superintendent Mark Kuphal, Wastewater Superintendent Orlin Sylvester and Public Works Coordinator Avery Grochow. According to Johnson, Mielke’s position is that plans for the project still need fine tuning before approved by the County. This would delay plans being sent to MnDOT for its review.

An expanded project in 2007 is the vision of city officials.

By holding off until next year, Grochow said the City could do a larger project and not be so rushed. He was concerned that a project this year would get started too late and the onset of winter could leave the project area a “big mess.”

According to Grochow, all planning done thus far for the project can still be utilitized. He also thinks the City could save money by waiting until 2007.

The City now has it sights set on taking bids for a street and utility reconstruction project in February of 2007. According to Johnson, this will produce more competitive bids and the work could be conducted during better weather conditions.