The Rugby City Council will hold its regular monthly meeting this Monday, March 2 beginning at 7:30 p.m., and the one agenda item that will take center stage is the bid opening for the District 1-2009 Street Improvement District.

However, a decision whether or not to accept a bid will come a few days later –Thursday, March 5 — at a special meeting at 7:30 p.m.

The time in between meetings will give project engineer Roger Grimsley of Advanced Engineering of Grand Forks a chance to closely examine the bids and alternates before making a recommendation to the council. At the March 5 meeting, Steven Vogelpohl, bond counsel, will also be in attendance to answer questions from the council.

The planned project includes street seal coats, overlay, and in some places, complete reconstruction of sections of streets. In addition, some curb and gutter would be replaced or installed.

The preliminary project estimate was a little over $5 million. However, city council members and Grimsley reviewed plans, and some scheduled work was taken out, reducing the overall cost.

A majority of the costs would be funded through special assessments to property owners. Some of the costs would be paid from the public infrastructure maintenance fund.

The last time city-wide street repairs were completed was in 1998, a street seal project funded with infrastructure funds.

Protesting the project

Property owners who oppose the planned work have the opportunity to file a written protest with the city auditor.

The deadline to submit a written protest is 5 p.m. on Monday, March 9. The protests must include signatures of property owners as well as a legal description of all property.

A protest hearing is scheduled for March 16 at a special council meeting.