Sheldon, Iowa — At their meeting Wednesday, the Sheldon City Council approved the appointment of a new SCAT team director and assistant director, and accepted a contractors bid for the new events center.
After hearing no comments during a public hearing on the Events Center, the Council proceeded to vote on the plans and specifications for the project, approving them with a vote of three to one with Randy Fonkert casting the dissenting vote. Council member Greg Geels abstained from voting because of a possible sub-contractor situation. The discussion then moved on to awarding the bid for the project to Hoogendoorn Construction of Canton, South Dakota. Out of the five bidders, Hoogendoorns bid of $4,866,000, was only $15,800 above the project cost estimate, and three hundred eighty thousand dollars below the highest bidder. The vote to accept the Hoogendoorn bid passed on a three to one vote with Geels abstaining and Fonkert voting ‘no’. Fonkert also voted against approval of the CAT Grant contract for the project.
City Manager Scott Wynja then brought the Council up to date on the funding for the project. A total of $963,000 has already been received in donations. The CAT Grant assists the project with $840,000, the City will borrow $3.4-million and there is other funding of $28,000. Wynja said the City would now review the details of the specifications with the contractor to see if there were areas where they could save some money without losing the value of the building. He also noted that there will be further efforts to raise additional funds.
In other business the Council approved the appointment of Tracy Gorter as the new SCAT Director and Ardys Bonestroo as Assistant Director. These appointments fill the vacancies created when Cindy Freeman resigned those positions.
The Council also approved the sale of three lots in the Trilogy Addition to Mark Falkena of PM Builders, LLC of Hospers for $66,330. The plans are to build condominiums on these lots, which are located on East 5th Street.
