Marquette moving forward with bench evacuation route
By Audrey Posten, North Iowa Times Editor
At its Dec. 13 regular meeting, the Marquette City Council selected Delta 3 Engineering, of Platteville, to complete plans and oversee bidding and construction for an emergency evacuation route off the bench, at a cost of $24,950.
The council received proposals for the project several months ago, but chose to take more time to consider researching and planning a route. It also needed to wait until the leaves were off the trees, so a survey could more easily be performed.
“I’d like to have that [the survey] done before spring, before the leaves, so we can start the route,” said councilwoman Cindy Halvorson.
The emergency evacuation route would start at the bench, then go over the bluff, to Eagle Drive in McGregor. It has been a key issue for the city for over a year, as officials searched for a way to aid residents if their access off the bench is ever blocked due to a train derailment, flooding or other event.
Storm water study
The council gave MSA Professional Services the go-ahead to submit a grant application to the United States Department of Agriculture for a storm water study.
Steve Thompson, representing MSA, spoke with the council about the study, which he said could be funded up to $30,000 with the grant. Work on the study will be predicated on whether the city receives the grant.
“It’s a good program. They want to help small communities,” Thompson said. “Marquette is eligible.”
Thompson said a storm water study is often difficult to scope because it means a lot of different things to different people.
“I would like to know what it means to you,” he told the council, noting that the study will look at the capacity of the city’s stormwater conveyance system, identifying problems, solutions and cost estimates. “We can decide the areas we want to focus on and see how far the money can take us.”
Marquette city manager Denise Schneider said the city has identified five problems areas.
“I’d like to look up the valley and look at maybe some retention basins to slow [water] down,” noted public works director Jason Sullivan.
Earlier in the meeting, Sullivan said he has been in contact with the DNR about addressing drainage near the police station/city shop, located along Pleasant Ridge Road/B45. Of particular issue, is the wetland/pond in front of the building, he said.
“The DNR won’t dredge it, but they may put in some channels to the wetland/pond to help it drain quicker,” he said, adding that it should help with storm water problems in the area.
Previous employee issue
City attorney Dan Key said he’s tried to contact former city clerk Sue Weipert about the whereabouts of two external backup drives and an SD card for the recorder, which belong to the city, as well as passwords to the city’s Facebook page, but is not aware of any response.
“Now is the time to figure out what to do [about the lack of response],” he said, but noted it can be discussed in closed session, then presented at a future meeting.