Edmunds County Tribune -

To the Editor:

Case in Point

The August 20 issue of the Miller Press’ coverage of the Miller City Council meeting on August 15 makes a strong case for the catastrophe that could be in the making here in Ipswich. The city of Miller is about to implement phase III of a multi-year paving project. The original bid price for the asphalt to complete that phase of the project was $545 per ton. The current price for asphalt is quoted as $875/ton; a 62% increase that stands to cost the city an additional $1,122,000. Now the discussion is: how to minimize the financial damage.

One suggestion being considered by the Miller City Council is to reduce the thickness of the asphalt from the engineering standard of 2 ½ inches to 2 inches of thickness. Thus, the residents in the area of Phase III would end up with substandard streets from an engineering standpoint. I am sure that that is not what they were expecting when the project was approved and probably not what they want going forward.

With the current inflation rate still in double digits as I write this, what are the chances that Stockwell Engineering will be able to honor their $13,800,000 bid for the total cost of the storm sewer project in the years going forward? Unless they significantly padded their bid to account for anticipated inflationary cost increases, the actual cost of the project will almost certainly exceed $13.8M. And if Stockwell did pad their bid that significantly, and inflation is tamped down to the Federal Reserve standard of 2% or less, then they and those helping to facilitate this contract stand to make a LOT of money.

When you combine the likelihood of inflationary impact with the fact that there is no Federal or State grant funding beyond the Phase 2 stage of the proposed project, the City of Ipswich, that is we taxpayers and city utility users, could be on the hook for several million dollars before the project is complete.

At this stage of deliberation and consideration there is no shortage of unknowns. What will be the total increase to the city utility bill? We don’t know. What will be the per foot tax assessment for the curb, gutter and street improvements to the home owners lucky enough to get their streets replaced to facilitate the main lines and trunks? We don’t know. What level of funding can we expect from the federal and state governments beyond Phase 2? We don’t know. Who will stand the cost of cost over-runs in the event of unforeseen engineering issues or inflationary cost increases? We don’t know. How significant of a runoff event is the proposed system designed to handle? We don’t know. In the project phase that includes the area south of Highway 12 and east of 45, where will that drain, will you use an open ditch or culvert and what will the easement cost; since that part of the project will go beyond the city limits? We don’t know. I am reminded of Luke 13: 28-30 when I consider all the unknowns.

At the last Ipswich City Council meeting some members of the council expressed that they would like to hear from more community members. I would encourage you to get hold of any or all council members to voice your opinion since you’re not going to get a chance to vote on it.

-- Ed Bierman