Ramps, drop curbs added to 1st Avenue project

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First Avenue will get handicapped-accessible ramps and drop curbs added to sidewalks because they are required by law, the Flandreau City Council voted at its most recent meeting.

The city will spend $31,734 to add the ADA ramps, a project that includes a 2-foot by 4-foot detectable warning panel.

Each intersection along First Avenue will vary some, depending on what was in place before the $4.9 million sanitary sewer and water main replacement project started.

For example, on 13th Street, where there are no sidewalks, workers will put a center drop curb on the southwest and southeast sides of First Avenue. Wilson Street also will not get ramps because no curb and gutter removal is planned.

Henry Street, for example, will get three new ramps and four replacement ramps in that intersection with First Avenue, but the southwest corner will get a drop curb. Ramps also will be added at various corners at West, Center, Wind, Crescent Prairie streets and Community Drive.

Much of the added work will be in the area near the hospital and the Flandreau United Methodist Church, where there is heavy walking traffic.

City Administrator Jeff Pederson recommended in May that the council consider adding ramps because they are the right thing to do and are required. The council approved the project change at the June 4 meeting.

Construction on the water and sewer project is scheduled for completion July 25, but some council members are concerned that contractors may not be able to make that deadline.

Council member Brad Bjerke said there should be some consideration given for work added this late in the process. It also makes sense that the contractor should be given some consideration for finishing later because of being unable to start as early as they had hoped this spring.

The council also approved a payment of $163,603 for work completed through May 25 by H&W Contracting.

In other business,

  • Under a new state law that goes into effect July 1, public bodies are required to have a time on the agenda for public comment, Pederson said. The comments do not have to be on an agenda item and can be at any point during the meeting that the council chooses. He recommended that it be listed at the beginning of the city’s agenda to be most convenient for people from the community.

The council is allowed to specify how long the public comment session can be and no action can be taken on the topic at the meeting because it will not have been on the agenda ahead of time, he said.

A second law change that would pertain to the city is that property that required an appraisal formerly could not be sold at less than 90 percent of the appraised value. That restriction disappears July 1.

  • While the Flandreau Aquatic Center opened a day and a half later than initially planned, the delay helped in getting the slides refurbished before the pool was open to patrons, Pederson said. In addition, the opening day during a late May warm spell came with a record attendance, he said.