Clearmont Town Council Meeting

Clearmont Town  Council meet on Monday night, January 18, 2021 at the town hall with all council members present.  Mayor Greg Rohrer and Amy Bohlman, town clerk, and guest, Kal Tucker,  of Manguire Iron, Inc, Water Tower Experts, also attended.

       Minutes of the December meeting were approved, and bills were approved to be paid. 

       Mayor Rohrer said he will be at town hall on Tuesdays from 3-4.  Amy Bohlman reported on the audit that is being done by Cloud Peak Accounting.

       She also reported that Councilwoman Switzer no longer wants to do passports and Amy asked if anyone would like to undertake the training and do the passports.  “We are one of the few passport facility in the area.  We have issued about five passports in Clearmont.” Bohlman said. Discussion centered on whether it was worth sending someone to the rather extensive training  or not for no more passports then were issued.  No decision was made on the issue.

       John Kiser, maintenance, said that two bids were received on the upcoming electric work in the town, replacing water meters and redoing the lights in the maintenance shop, and the bid was given to Chasboro Electric.  “They help us out a lot and they are always good to come down when I call them,” Kiser said. 

       He added that on Tuesday maintenance would be repairing the leak in the waterline and some residents would be out of water for a short period of time.  He is replacing old meters as they wear out with new electro-magnetic meters, which will last longer than the current old meters.  He said that at present he is replacing the light bulbs in the shop as they burn out, and it was decided by the council to table the discussion on the lights until Feburary.

       The longest discussion centered around the repairing and recoating of the Clearmont water tank.  Kal Tucker, or Maguire Iron Inc, presented a bid  of $285,000 and was at the meeting to answer any questions.  Another bid was presented by a California firm, Cascade Industrial Services, for $108,935. 

       Although the Cascade bid was significantly lower, Kal Tucker pointed out that they had not seen the inside of the tank, as the old paint is several layers deep and will take significant sandblasting to remove it.  Josh Johnson attended the meeting to answer any questions about the Cascade bid, and said they had see photos of the inside of the tank and had done a lot of water tank work.  Tucker mentioned that his company extends a two year warranty on work, and they are a local firm and had been in business a long time and had several references that would be made available to the town.

       Councilwoman Switzer felt that due to the extreme difference in the bids, that the town should contact Cascade to get more information from them, as the town is concerned with costs.  Councilman Poppenga felt that the bid from Cascade might well increase after they saw the many layers of paint inside, and he felt that they shouldn’t wait too long to get the project started.  He added that Cascade had not made an effort to come down and inspect the tank before making their bid.  “I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting out a bid to anyone who has not seen the tank.”

       Councilman Buhr felt that the bid from Cascade also lacked detail, where the Maguire bid was very detailed.   He mentioned that Maguire also belonged to the Rural Water Association, and was a local company.

       Councilwoman Betz moved and Councilman Buhr seconded to award the bid to Maguire Iron, Inc.  Motion carried. 

       A discussion on a move to vacate land will resume at the February 15^th meeting.