Meta aldermen last Wednesday at their regular monthly meeting agreed to meet Rolla contractor Cahills Construction halfway on its bid for the city’s 60x40 maintenance building.

President Toni Cahill explained to aldermen that the quote provided to the city for the carpentry portion of the project used wages from 2018, which means the contractor’s bid of $137,000 did not accurately reflect the most current prevailing wage requirements, and left the bid $7,500 less than it should have been.

Mayor Harold Libbert said he appreciated Cahill bringing it to the board, and made a recommendation that the city pay half the cost.

“That’s acceptable with us,” said Cahill, expressing her gratitude for the city’s help. “I appreciate anything you do for us.”

Aldermen agreed, which makes the project total $140,750.

Prevailing-wage reports will be sent to the city, which is required to file them with the state.

Cahills, a woman- and Native American-owned company, began operations in 2002 as a local builder and has rapidly expanded its market area to include the Army Corps of Engineers, Missouri Department of Transportation, local schools, churches and other commercial businesses.

“We primarily do public projects,” said Cahill, noting that all employees have Occupational Safety and Health Administration training. “We do some private projects, but not a lot.”

Cahill said she believes her company heard about the city’s project from local news publications, since the contractor handles projects in the Jefferson City area.

This building will be constructed near the old school, which as of the meeting had not been visited by Cahill, but she said there is usually a pre-construction meeting held to make sure everything is in order.

Libbert noted there were gravel piles that may have to be moved prior to construction, and once the building is completed, Alderman Otto Wankum said the piles should be stored behind the structure.

There is some concern about whether the new building will be in the floodplain. Alderman Steve Sherrell said the entire valley is in the floodplain, but City Clerk Deidra Buechter said the new building will not be in the floodplain, and said she could apply for a permit if construction equipment would need to work within the floodplain.

Cahill said the work area can be staked out during the pre-construction meeting, but Libbert said there should be plenty of room to operate without entering the floodplain.

The project, which should take approximately four months to complete, will begin once inclement weather passes.

In other business, Buechter said the annual review for water rates is coming up, and suggested aldermen consider options, though that does not mean rates need to be increased. Rates haven’t been increased since 2013.

Treasurer Mary Plassmeyer suggested waiting a month or two for the new meters to register data, since many of the meters recently replaced were old and may have been recording inaccurate information.

“The water usage may have been lower than what it actually was,” said Plassmeyer. “There may be an increase in billing with the new meters because they’ll be more accurate, and show people are using more water.”

Wankum said he’s very pleased with the new meters and system, which flagged unusually high water usage at his daughter’s home. Upon investigation, Wankum said the stool was not sealed properly, which meant the water was running constantly. Wankum added that finding the leak quickly meant a lower water bill overall.

In terms of water rates, Wankum asked if the city is maintaining the cost of the water system with current rates, to which Plassmeyer indicated the affirmative.

“Don’t we as a board need to make sure that before we just arbitrarily raise the rates that we need to raise the rates? If we’re getting close, then yeah, I’d say we need to raise the rates,” Wankum said. “But if we’re comfortable with where we are right now, why raise them?”

Buechter noted that Missouri Rural Water conducts rate studies, and that may be an option for the city.

“They’ll want you to raise the rates,” said Libbert.

“I don’t know if Missouri Rural Water will want that,” Buechter replied. “They’ve been really good to work with. They’re for the people, and they want people to have clean drinking water.”

As of last Wednesday, most of the new meters had been installed. However, a handful of customers were left without water because the new meters hadn’t been turned on.

“In a town this size, one would have been acceptable,” said Libbert. “Four or five of them, though, that’s aggravating.”

Overall, however, Wankum said this project will be good for the city. “This was the right thing to do,” he said. “I think those guys did pretty good. We can sit here and [complain] about it, but by the same token, I think we should be grateful they came down here and got them installed as quickly as they did.”

* Aldermen approved a DNR-mandated update to the city’s ordinance on the reduction of lead in drinking water, which lowers the maximum lead content of wetted surfaces of plumbing products such as pipes, pipe-fittings, plumbing fittings and fixtures from 8% to a weighted average of .25%.

* A list of streets was approved for repairs, provided the bids are affordable. Aldermen agreed to solicit bids for portions of W. 7th St., 5th St., Nathan St., John Deere Lane, the junction at Cherry and 4th streets, the alley by the ambulance building, from 306W. 6th St. to the corner of Pine St., east of city hall, the alley behind the fire station, and W. 3rd St. in front of the old MFA.

Bids are planned for each street, and will decide, based on cost, which streets will be repaired this year.  Funding from the 2019 project has been carried forward to this year’s budget.

* Libbert announced that the new Dollar General is nearing completion, and should be open by the end of the month.

Remaining business will be presented next week.