The Lindsborg City Council awarded a bid Monday for replacement of curb and gutter in the 200 through 400 blocks of South Washington. Public Works Director Denny Walker said the original plan was to do this project after a mill and overlay of those three blocks, but conditions of the existing cub necessitated a change in plans.
Walker explained when they looked at what is there now, it was determined the curb and gutter work needed to be done first in order to avoid damage to the new overlay. Vogts-Parga Construction had the low bid of two received, at $129,424.04. Walker said one contractor that usually bids on street-related projects did not submit a bid due to its small size.
The Lindsborg Fire Department was given approval to replace their filling system for the air bottles used by firefighters. Fire Chief Terry Reed told the Council the existing system was installed when the present fire station was constructed in 1987, with the air compressor replaced when they purchased new air packs in 2017.
At that time the fill station was not replaced as it was in good condition. Since then, issues developed where they have not been able to fill bottles to their full 4500-pound capacity. Only to around 3200 pounds. When filled to capacity a firefighter would have 15-20 minutes of air while fighting a fire under stress conditions. The current system reduces it by about 25 percent. Plans are to sell the existing system via online auction as it would still be usable by people not needing that much capacity, such as divers.
The Council approved a revision in their retiree health insurance policy. City Clerk Roxie Sjogren said the revision was proposed after conversation with Freedom Claims, which manages the city’s health insurance program. The revision deals with when eligibility for city retirees to stay on the city’s plan, which would in most cases end when an employee reaches 65 years of age and is eligible to go on Medicare. The current retirees and spouses on city insurance would be grandfathered under this change.
