Council approves rail spur project, waits on stimulus dollars

After nearly an hour of discussion, Le Mars City Council members decided Tuesday to accept a $773,582 bid for the rail spur track extension in the city's industrial park -- with a condition.

They're waiting to hear on whether federal stimulus money will come through.

The bid from Ameritrack Railroad Contractors, Frankfort, Ind., was among 11 bids submitted.

The high number of bids, according to Bill Jones of Antioch International, the city's consultant on the project, was due to "the hungry environment" he felt currently exists among contractors.

The bid was approved subject to receipt of additional information on stimulus funding requirements for the city, should they be awarded stimulus dollars.

A major focus of the discussion centered on the expected final news on stimulus recipients next Wednesday, May 12, from the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and how the potential federal guidelines for use of the money could impact the city.

Another of the strong considerations council members indicated was Ameritrack's willingness to accept the council's "subject to" action on the bid and a possible delay on the rail spur track extension.

Councilman Rex Knapp said it was important to proceed as quickly as possible with the extension despite what fellow Councilman John Rexwinkel termed could well be "jumping through hoops" of federal stimulus guidelines.

Knapp rallied the council agreement for a special session "within 24 hours notice" on possible awarding of the stimulus monies in Le Mars by the DOT.

City Administrator Scott Langel said a total of 33 Iowa communities are contenders for a share of the $5 million initially reported available in the federal program. Requests, he said, total $48 million.

Langel, noting the importance of moving ahead on the project and its federal required "shovel ready" status, conceded his present uncertainty on the city's funding possibilities.

Antioch's Jones, who participated in Tuesday's discussion via phone, told council members he felt Ameritrack's bid, "a good bid" and added he felt Ameritrack representatives were "agreeable to waiting out" cautionary council acceptance of the bid.

Jones, responding to council questioning on the $773,582 bid figure as compared to the earlier and most recent engineer's project estimate of $695,000, explained the difference resulted from need for an additional 80 feet of rail agreed on by the city and IML Container, whose new facility will be benefitted by the rail spur.

Both figures were well below several earlier cost projects of $1.2 million and $900,000 that were scaled down through a series of design modifications agreed on by the city and IML Container. Elimination of a retaining wall asked for by IML Container and instead changing grade levels were among the design changes.