Memo: Meeting with MOM Brands, Construction Update

From the City of Northfield, here is the City Administrator’s Memorandum from Northfield City Administrator Tim Madigan for June 28.

Click here to see the full 10-page memo.

In this week’s memo:

• Madigan reported on his meeting at MOM Brands. He writes:

Last week, Mayor Graham, EDA President Hoschouer, Chris Heineman and I visited with the Plant  Manager at MOM to discuss their operations and if they had any special needs the City of Northfield could  help with. We were given a positive update of MOM’s operatives and marketing. They are very competitive in their market and look forward to a stable presence in Northfield. We let him know he could contact any one of us if there were any questions or concerns or needs they have.

• Building Official Jim Kessler provides an update on construction in the city:

We are out doing inspections on the new houses in progress and issuing permits for other new houses. The total number of new houses at year end may be a big surprise. We still have remodeling projects happening on numerous houses. The projects include bathroom remodels, bathroom additions, decks, porches, new garages, kitchen remodels, basement finishes, and window and siding replacement.

The colleges have started a few building remodeling projects and maintenance projects. Some other commercial projects are winding down. The St Olaf Ellingson Hall remodeling project is in high gear so they are complete by school start. The City Hall project is gearing up and the police station is ready to begin construction next week.

Rental inspections always fill in the inspection schedule. The lawn and blight complaints are also there to fill any spare time.

• Work continues on the Sixth Street reconstruction project. Here is Engineering Tech Coordinator Sean Simonson’s update:

Xcel Energy finally finished up the gas main relocation on Sixth Street between Washington Street and Water Street, so utility crews will be back on-site Monday to begin the service line installations and the new Storm Sewer System installations. Crews are expected to work on that the entire week. Shortly thereafter, grading crews will be on-site to begin sub-cutting the existing road base and prepare the road for the sand and gravel base.

Staff did receive the soil test back from Braun Intertec, and results showed petroleum contamination above acceptable levels for just hauling the material to any ordinary off-site location. The material will have to be hauled to a landfill and disposed of properly. The area in question is near the Water Street and Sixth Street intersection. Staff is working with BCM to get a price for hauling the material and disposing of it at an approved site. It is estimated to be about 400 Cubic Yards of material.