Montrose, CO — City Councilors met for their regular meeting Tuesday evening, August 3, to consider a number of ordinances, a contract change order for public infrastructure work, a tax report from the month of June, and a second-quarter budget report.
Councilors Barbara Bynum, Dave Frank, Doug Glaspell, and Anthony Russo met in City Council Chambers along with city staff. David Reed attended online. Due to changing COVID-19 protocols, members of the public were allowed to attend in City Council Chambers or online via the Zoom platform.
The following is a summary of the primary topics discussed during the meeting.
Watch the meeting here.
(NOTE: Due to a technical issue, audio was lost until 21:05 in the video. We apologize for any inconvenience.)
PUBLIC COMMENT
One resident spoke about a possible housing development near the Cobble Creek golf community.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Councilors voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the August 2, 2021, special meeting and the August 3 regular City Council meeting.
The city’s archive of past meeting minutes can be found at CityofMontrose.org/ArchiveCenter.
MURA PHASE II PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE CONSTRUCTION CONTRACT CHANGE ORDER NUMBER 1
Councilors voted unanimously to approve a contract change order in the amount of $94,668 to Mountain Valley Contracting for piping of the Rice Ditch within the Montrose Urban Renewal Authority Phase II Public Infrastructure Construction Project.
City Engineer Scott Murphy said the Rice Ditch is an open irrigation ditch originally built in the 1880s that diverts water from the Uncompahgre River and runs through the Montrose Urban Renewal Authority. The ditch supplies irrigation water to Taviwach Park and several industrial users as far north as LaSalle Road.
As part of the master planning efforts for the Montrose Urban Renewal Authority, it was anticipated that the Rice Ditch would be piped concurrent with each phase of construction in order to improve safety for pedestrians in the area, improve groundwater conditions (to minimize saturation of soils under parking lots and foundations), and reduce maintenance obligations. However, during design of the Basecamp Apartments, the developer of the site was working to avoid this cost and envisioned incorporating the Rice Ditch as a landscaped water feature instead. As a result, the city did not include any piping of the ditch with the Phase II public infrastructure project design and original bidding.
As the developer’s Basecamp project design continued to progress, following bidding and award of the city’s public infrastructure project, it became apparent to the developer that piping of the ditch would be necessary for all of the reasons originally envisioned by the city. To that end, the proposed change order would add this piping back into the project’s scope of work. The work will include approximately 650 linear feet of 30-inch HDPE pipe, a headwall structure, debris screen, and concrete restraint collars. Costs for the work are summarized below, based on negotiations with the contractor.
• 30” SDR 32.5 HDPE Pipe (650 LF) - $78,357.50
• Precast Headwall and Debris Screen - $13,632.50
• Concrete Restraint Collars - $2,678
Total: $94,668
This change order would be to the original $1.08 million MURA Phase II Public Infrastructure contract awarded to Mountain Valley Contracting by City Council on May 4, 2021. This change order is in addition to the standard 10% contingency initially awarded with the project as these funds may still be necessary for other out-of-scope work items.
Contract Administration and Project Financials
Contract administration and general project management will continue to be performed by the City of Montrose Engineering Department. The original contract award was over $1 million under budget due to cost savings and scope reductions that were realized between initial budgeting and final design. With this change order, the project will still remain approximately $965, 000 under budget.
ORDINANCE 2549 - SECOND READING
Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2549 on the second reading to formally annex the Riverside Park Addition II.
According to City Planner William Reis, the 2.09-acre parcel is located west of the parking lot within Cerise Park. Reis said the parcel has several potential uses attached to it, including possible housing. Reis said there are no plans currently in place to use the parcel. Reis said this annexation cleans up an orphaned parcel of land and brings the property officially into the city.
ORDINANCE 2550 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2550 on the second reading to zone the Riverside Park Addition II as a "P" Public District.
ORDINANCE 2551 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2551 on the second reading to approve the annexation of the Riverside Park Addition III.
According to City Planner William Reis, the 0.03-acre parcel is located west of the parking lot within Cerise Park. Reis said this annexation cleans up an orphaned parcel of land and brings the property into the city. Reis said the parcel has several potential uses attached to it, including possible housing. Reis said there are no plans currently in place to use the parcel.
ORDINANCE 2552 - SECOND READING
City Councilors voted unanimously to approve Ordinance 2552 on second reading to zone the Riverside Park Addition III as a "P" Public District.
STAFF REPORTS
City Finance Director Shani Wittenberg delivered the sales, use, and excise tax report for June 2021.
Read the report in its entirety here.
Wittenberg also delivered a second-quarter budget review report to the council, stating that all the city’s funds are healthy with revenue collection and budget expenditures are progressing well.
CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS
Barbara Bynum said councilors enjoyed a tour of the city’s Wastewater Treatment Facility and the new amphitheater under construction in Cerise Park.
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All City Council meetings are recorded and made available online via the city’s website and cable channels 191 for Charter subscribers and 970 for Elevate subscribers. Replays of council meetings are also broadcast at 6 p.m. on the same channels on days that the council is not in session.
In addition, each regular meeting is archived on the City of Montrose’s YouTube channel.
Residents can watch all regular City Council meetings and work sessions live through the city’s website at CityOfMontrose.org/Video.
For more city news visit CityOfMontrose.org.