Ironwood officials watching Montreal River

By LARRY HOLCOMBE

lholcombe@yourdailyglobe.com

Ironwood — The Ironwood City Commission heard from city manager Paul Anderson Monday that the city is monitoring the level of the Montreal River after a winter with more than 200 inches of snow and a period of warm weather in the past week.

City staff are re-bagging 5,000 old sandbags at the Public Safety Department to have on hand in the case of a flood event, he said, as part of the city’s emergency response plan.

Anderson also reported that while Coleman Engineering is working on the design of the $3 million Lead Service Line replacement project bidding documents, members of the public are receiving letters with temporary easements that are needed to perform the work on their property.

Water Department manager Bob Tervonen told The Globe Tuesday that they’re still working to determine which of the 3,000 water customers have copper or galvanized water service lines. He said they have data on about 2,500 of the lines, but have been sending out cards to the remaining 500 customers asking them to report back to the city if their line is copper or galvanized.

“We’d like the public to please return these back to us and let us know if you have any questions,” said Tervonen. “If they don’t know what kind of line they have, we’ll send someone out to check; and if it’s galvanized, we put in a new line at the city’s expense.”

Tervonen said he figures the city may end up with 700 to 800 lines to replace, “but there are a lot of unknowns with 500 still undetermined.”

Anderson also said staff are putting together an application for a Public Gathering Spaces Initiative grant through the Michigan Economic Development Council. This project would replace many sidewalks along Business Route 2 (Douglas Boulevard, Frederick Street and Suffolk Street) between U.S. 2 and the Iron Belle Trail, provide lighting, and provide improvements along this stretch for gathering spaces at Frederick Street and at the canon site at the corner of Frederick and Suffolk.

A public hearing was set for 5:15 p.m. on Monday, April 24, to hear comments on the MEDC Public Gathering Spaces Initiative grant application.

In other matters, the commission:

—Authorized the Department of Public Works to purchase a Sternberg decorative streetlight from Graybar for $5,949.

—Authorized calling for bids for garage siding project at the DPW.

—Approved a reimbursement agreement with the Gogebic County Road Commission for 2023 paving work.

—Approved the purchase of 18 iTracker flow meters from Eastech Corporation for $50,670. The meters are placed in man holes and measure water infiltration into the sanitary sewer system. The city has five of these. The addition will help officials more easily and safely pinpoint problem areas.

—Adopted a Fair Housing Resolution, which was a necessary step to close out the Downtown City Square Project through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s Community Development Block Grant.

—Heard Mayor Kim Corcoran appoint Tarun Patel to the Human Relations and Equity Commission to fill an unexpired four-year term, expiring July 2025.

Anderson’s report also mentioned:

—Securing funding for the water plant project has been a top priority.

—There will be a public hearing for the Phase 5 Utility Project before the April 24 meeting at 5:20 p.m. This project aims to do sewer and water work in a northside neighborhood around the intersection of Lowell Street and Michigan Avenue.

—A meeting has been set for April 26 for downtown businesses that will be affected by a sewer main lining project this summer.

—A similar neighborhood meeting will be held in early May before a planned Hemlock Street construction project this summer from Broadway to U.S. 2.

—Other projects with upcoming bids include: sidewalk replacement along Lowell Street behind the Ironwood Theatre, Jessieville water tank repairs, roadway crack sealing, Curry Park electrical upgrades and Civic Center sidewalk.

—The budgeting process continues and budget workshops will be held April 24 and May 9.

—Those interested in pickleball should check out the Pat O’Donnell Civic Center schedule for dates and times.