Designers of the Bell Museum + Planetarium at the University of Minnesotas St. Paul campus want the new facility to be as natural as possible.

When completed in the summer of 2018, the $79.2 million complex will showcase the states natural history and be made out of it.

About 40 percent of the new museums exterior is covered with locally sourced, thermally modified timber, or cooked wood as it has been dubbed. Designers believe the project is the largest commercial-scale use of thermally modified white pine in the country.

Its a beautiful wood, white pine, said Dave Dimond, a principal at the Minneapolis office of architecture firm Perkins+Will, which designed the new museum.

The challenge always has been that you cant use pine outdoors that it has to be protected by the weather, Dimond said. This is a really new and exciting way to use white pine in a way its never been used before.

About 21,000 square feet of white pine will be finished being installed this month on the outside of the museum located near Larpenteur and Cleveland avenues near the State Fairgrounds. A portion of the bottom half of the building is clad with steel from the Iron Range.

The architecture speaks to the story of Minnesota and nature in Minnesota. White pine is an iconic timber species from Minnesota, said George Weiblen, interim scientific director and curator of plants at the Bell Museum.

The white pine comes from state forest land in Cass Lake, located about 30 minutes from Bemidji, that has been certified by the international nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council for being responsibly managed. One of the focuses for researchers at the Natural Resources Research Institute (NRRI) at the University of Minnesota Duluth is how to help strengthen Minnesotas forestry industry in an environmentally sustainable way. Thermally modified wood is one of the products the group is studying.

One of the cool ways to grow the economy in northern Minnesota is to start looking at renewable resources, Dimond said. Rather than cutting down trees permanently, grow them sustainably and selectively cut them so that the forest remains. This is what got us excited about white pine, since it is native to Minnesota and does have some significant sustainable forest.

The process of cooking wood originated in Finland and while Europe has been experimenting with it for years, the process has had limited use in the United States, said Kelly Bartz, president at Duluth-based Arbor Wood Co., which sourced the wood and the local kiln needed for the museum project.

Arbor has been selling thermally modified wood for about four years, though it normally focuses on hardwoods like ash and red oak instead of pine, which is a softwood.

For the museum project, Arbor Wood selected Palisade, Minn.-based Superior Thermowood of Minnesota. About 8,000 board feet or enough wood to fill half a semitrailer truck was slowly heated in the kiln until it reached about 100 degrees Celsius. The heat cooks out the moisture and natural sugar that can cause wood to decay and attract insects. The heat is then spiked to 210 degrees Celsius so that the cellular makeup of the wood is changed, and it makes it less susceptible to water. The wood is cooled down with the addition of steam and is provided with some much-needed moisture so that the wood is not too brittle. The result is a wood that can withstand the elements without needing any other type of finishing. The entire process can take four to five days.

Several partners were needed to make the museum project work, including Cass Forest Products, the sawmill that harvested the pine, Woodline, the sawmill that prepared the thermally modified white pine for installation, and McGough, the construction company responsible for building the museum and installing the white pine.

This innovative way that Perkins+Will has come up with the siding for the Bell Museum is definitely intriguing to us, Bartz said. Now the supply-chain challenges that we had in the beginning, thats all figured out. We have resources and it is kind of interesting to work with something like white pine thats indigenous to Minnesota and is a newly-revitalized resource.

After 75 years on the U campus in Minneapolis, the old Bell Museum closed in December and will reopen next year on the St. Paul site.

Besides the wood siding, other natural elements are featured at the museum. There will be rain gardens to help reduce stormwater runoff from the parking lot. There will also be a pollinator garden and other native plant landscaping as well as solar panels on the roof.

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At new Bell Museum, designers turn to a new process to make building look natural - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Valley Brook Apartments includes 240 units, 213 of which are affordable.

Birmingham, Ala.Steele Properties acquired and plans to rehabilitateValley Brook Apartments, an affordable community located at 2969 Gallant Drive in Birmingham, Ala. for $24.8 million. Renovations will begin in April 2017 and are set for completion in spring 2018. The property will be managed by Monroe Group.

Valley Brook Apartments

The 240-unit community offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 750 to 1,050 square feet, according to Yardi Matrix.Of the total unit amount, 213 apartments are affordable.

Valley Brook will receive $47,000 per unit in hard cost rehabilitation as part of the acquisition. The renovations will coverexterior and interior work, including building a new community center with a computer lab, laundry facilities and playground; replacing the vinyl siding with durable siding systems; the installation of new roofs; the addition of hard wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors; a new key fob controlled vehicular access gate with security guard shack; a new security camera system and improved lighting. Interior upgrades will include new electrical, paint, flooring and doors; the addition of energy efficient lighting and water saving features; new countertops, cabinets and Energy Star appliances in the kitchens and new vanities, tubs and fixtures in the bathrooms. Full ADA conversions will be completed on 12 of the units.

The project is financed with Low Income Housing Tax Credits and Tax-Exempt Bonds provided by the Alabama Housing Finance Authority.The project is funded by the sale of the Tax-Exempt Bond proceeds underwritten by R4 Capital and Tax Credit equity provided by PNC Bank.

We are proud to be preserving this affordable housing community that is in dire need of renovation, David Asarch, partner & chief investment officer of Steele Properties, told Multi-Housing News.Our entire development, construction, operations, compliance, finance and HR teams are working together to rehabilitate Valley Brook and make it a place where the residents are proud to call home.

Image courtesy of Yardi Matrix

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Steele Properties Acquires Affordable AL Community - Multi-Housing News

In January, prosecutors in Riverside filed 30 felony charges against two longtime Palm Springs developers and a former mayor in an alleged $375,000 bribery scheme related to building projects downtown.

Ah, the romance of the desert! A place of fierce natural beauty and beguiling spiritual wonder! A rejuvenating refuge from the crushing pressures of modern urban life!

Desert X, the ambitious exhibition of new site-specific art installations scattered around the Coachella Valley, is successful partly because the 16 participating artists mostly skirt romanticized desert clichs or else they engage them, casting a skeptical or parodic eye. Perhaps surprisingly, none chose to consider the springs that made this corner of the desert bloom; but many works burrow into the areas complex history and heterogeneous present.

In Coachella, the easternmost town in the valley, Armando Lerma has painted a big, charming mural on the side of a modest neighborhood ice cream shop. Titled The Party in the Desert, its amiable rural imagery of clowns, a juggler, a table laden with cake and bowls of fruit, assorted revelers, a starburst piata, some chickens and a couple of dogs, unfolds its narrative slowly.

FULL COVERAGE: Spring arts guide 2017

Lermas chosen site on a scruffy industrial strip along railroad tracks looks back to the towns founding almost a century and a half ago as a siding for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The locales modesty reflects the working-class identity of a rough-edged town where more than a quarter of residents live below the poverty line.

Look closely, and the mural sports several small medallions of the Virgin of Guadalupe, saint and protector. In a wry gesture, they are affixed to the wall at places where metal bolts protrude, signaling earthquake retrofitting. Fiesta connects the ice cream store with the towns largely Latino local population.

Perhaps the murals most vital feature is its implied but incisive contrast to that other local party in the desert the raucous, corporately produced, hugely profitable Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that annually invades the area just up the street in Indio, where the artist was born. Lerma grounds his marvelous mural in the routine social realities of place, yet without so much as a hint of critical disdain for what is finally just a different way for revelers to paint the town.

Twenty-eight miles away in Palm Springs, near the westernmost end of the valley, Mexican artist Gabriel Kuri, who lives and works in Los Angeles and Brussels, has brought a chunk of desert indoors. For Donation Box, hes filled half a storefront in a down-on-its-heels mini-mall at the edge of town with a deep layer of sand, piled into a desolate landscape of gently rolling dunes.

Peering through the plate-glass window, youll see hundreds of cigarette butts stuck in the sand, along with casually tossed coins. It loosely recalls Damien Hirsts giant ashtray sculptures, with their aura of forlorn grandiloquence, plus Chris Burdens monumental city-in-the-sand sculpture, A Tale of Two Cities, assembled from toys. Kuris is a grunge wishing well, radiating boom-and-bust.

Zigzagging across the region during the two days necessary to see all of Desert X, I put more than 175 miles on my odometer. (A free guidebook and map with GPS coordinates are available in the lobby of Ace Hotel & Swim Club on East Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.) The physical distance between Lermas mural and Kuris sculpture is fitting for the sprawl that characterizes both the raw desert and its fitful development since the 1960s. The valley, once a string of villages, is primarily suburban now.

Indeed, the graphic logo for the shows title draws the X like a crossing sign. Desert Crossing is the name of a mid-valley shopping center.

The artists were selected by Neville Wakefield, 54, former curator of Frieze Projects, a program of artists commissions that is part of the Frieze Art Fair in London, and past advisor to PS1, the Long Island City affiliate of New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. Most Desert X commissions are clustered in Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, but other projects are farther afield.

In the remote, drop-dead gorgeous landscape of the Whitewater Preserve, a bit more than five miles into rugged canyon country north of the 10 Freeway, L.A.-based Sherin Guirguis transformed sandbags, tree limbs and mud into an elegant, hive-shaped dovecote. The structure, based on pigeon towers commonly found in desert villages of her native Egypt, is a cross-cultural emblem of displacement and shelter.

So is Richard Princes grim installation, albeit of a wholly different character, in a disheveled quarter of nearby Desert Hot Springs. The ramshackle walls and surroundings of an abandoned hacienda-style house are plastered with printed blowups of sordid Twitter feeds that the artist scavenged for tales of banal indulgences in sex, drugs and rock n roll.

In keeping with the derelict domesticity of the works forlorn site, Prince focuses on vulgar tweets by and about dysfunctional families sisters, cousins, mothers and aunts. Voyeuristic trash gets tangled like litter in desert scrub.

According to an exhibition spokesman, the unsecured site has already been vandalized and several works looted from the house. Unsurprising, perhaps, for an artist whose queasy paintings of naughty nurses soft-porn imagery where nurture precedes betrayal have sold in the seven figures. But vandalisms crude delinquency merely serves to italicize Princes theme. Like Twitter, the installation makes hitherto secret vices brazenly public; vanity grates against shame.

Two artists Glenn Kaino and Will Boone have burrowed into the ground. Both view the desert as an ancient, wide-open expanse harboring topical secrets.

Kainos Hollow Earth is an ordinary storage shed set out in a bland field. Open the door, go inside and in the center of a small room lined in cheap fiberboard is a seemingly bottomless shaft ringed by a circular white grid that glows with a bluish light. A pristine infinity pit, it elicits playful childhood fantasies of tunneling all the way to China crossed with grown-up fears of sinister silos harboring the tools of Armageddon.

Speaking of bomb shelters, Boone built one beneath another dusty field. Clamber down a ladder, pass through a heavy steel door and enter a tubular metal shelter like a big sewer pipe. There sits a bulky bronze sculpture of President Kennedy, decorously painted red, white and blue, as if some pharaonic potentate buried in the sands of time.

Illuminated from overhead by a single, solar-powered bulb, the seated dignitary is both a Lincoln-like Monument, as the installation is titled, and a suspect ready for interrogation. The conundrum befits a national hero whose life and death are the subject of endless conspiracy theories. Hes the hidden love-match to Marilyn Monroe, whose likeness is plastered all over Palm Springs as an emblem of its midcentury Hollywood playground past.

Back above ground, two other artists have built walls. Both are Minimalist and hallucinatory.

Phillip K. Smith III, who gained acclaim four years ago for wrapping a remote desert shack with mirrored strips that made it seem on the verge of disappearing into Joshua Trees rugged landscape, is here with more mirror-play. This time he has crafted a big, bowl-shaped arena, 70 paces across and composed from scores of tall mirrored rods set up in a circle.

Canted outward on a 10-degree angle, the exterior reflects the earth back onto itself. The bowls interior reflects sky, incongruously surrounding an earthbound viewer. From both vantages the actual landscape is simultaneously seen between the shiny reflective bars. Normality alternates with a routine order of things thats been flipped on its head.

Near the base of a hiking trial, Swiss artist Claudia Comte has built a long, tall, undulating concrete wall. Its horizontal form slowly morphs from gentle curves at one end to an angular zigzag at the other. Comte has matched this brute material form with the same sequence of purely visual shapes vertical black stripes set against a blazing white ground, starting with rippling waves and ending with jagged lines.

Like rising waves of desert heat that lead one to delirium and back, the effect is surprisingly powerful. Sol LeWitts rigor mixes with Bridget Rileys verve. Minimalist Op art is rarely this good.

Illusion is likewise key to Jennifer Bolandes head-turning set of three double-sided billboards along the west side of Gene Autry Trail, a road leading in and out of the valley from the freeway. Bolande photographed the distant San Jacinto, Santa Rosa and San Bernardino mountain ranges, then enlarged the images to billboard scale. For one fleeting, disconcerting moment as you drive by, the wordless pictures line up exactly with the approaching view.

While the mountain contours match up precisely, the clarity, color and light inevitably do not. The quick drive-by sequence of three billboard moments is so brief that you cant quite be certain of what you have just witnessed.

Its like a flash-cut in a motion picture, subliminal in effect. A disjunction between image and reality is lodged in a path named for a half-forgotten cowboy star of movies and TV. The seamless fabric of experience gets torn.

Additional projects by Doug Aitken, Lita Albuquerque, Jeffrey Gibson, Norma Jeane, Rob Pruitt, Julio Sarmento and Tavares Strachan are also on view. The show is being seen as an art world answer to the wildly successful Coachella music festival, beginning April 14. (Desert X, continuing through April 30, overlaps with it.) While that connection makes marketing sense, in spirit the endeavor is more like a suburban version of the urban Sculpture Projects Mnster, a once-per-decade exhibition of commissioned public art throughout the German city.

The Mnster show, opening its fifth iteration in June, is among Europes most reliably engaging art events. Desert X organizers hope to mount their own sequel an excellent idea, given the overall artistic success of this one, although not yet certain.

If a serious flaw mars this otherwise admirable event, it is the sharp gender disparity in the current lineup. In 2017, no excuse is good enough for inviting only four women to participate among 16 artists. (An irony: The areas first major artist was transcendentalist painter Agnes Pelton, who arrived in Cathedral City in 1932.) If Desert X 2.0 does take place, the unforced error represents an easy fix.

Where: Various sites in the Coachella Valley; guidebook and map at Ace Hotel, 701 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs

When: Through April 30

Information: http://www.desertx.org

christopher.knight@latimes.com

Twitter: @KnightLAT

See our complete guide to spring arts events in L.A.

ALSO

Spring Arts Events Guide 2017

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Why Iceland? L.A. Phil's Reykjavik Festival highlights amazing music coming from an unlikely place

At Richard Telles Fine Art, Jim Isermann's illusions stack up

Diego Rivera's Cubist masterpiece arrives at LACMA

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International art invades the suburban Coachella Valley: The best of ... - Los Angeles Times

Muskegon man refuses to pay for remodeling to get smart meter

Sarah Sell, WZZM 7:04 PM. EST March 02, 2017

MUSKEGON, MICH. - A Muskegon man says he doesn't want a Consumers Energy smart meter, but its not for the reason you might think.

Tony Driscoll called 13 On Your Side after the utility company told him he would have to pay for the installation. "I told them I shouldn't have to pay for somebody to do that, when it's their meter, says Driscoll.

Driscoll says his current meter is in an odd place. Several years ago, it was installed in the corner of his house and its not enough space for a new smart meter. "We bought the house 23 years ago. I haven't moved it."

The house used to be masonry brick and 10 years ago tony says he had a contractor put siding on it for better insulation. Consumers Energy says the meter is in an unsafe location. Driscoll says the meter-readers never had a problem until recently.

Consumers Energy started installing smart meters in 2012. The device allows Consumers to read meters remotely.

"They want to eliminate a meter reader position, which makes them more profitable. I understand that, but I shouldn't have to bare that brunt," Driscoll says.

Drsicoll says he can either get a smart meter or opt-out -- meaning he would pay an initial fee of $69, then $9.72 a month to pay for the meter readers to come to his house.

Right now, there is proposed legislation that would allow residents to choose whether they want one and not be penalized, but Driscoll says "I never said I'm opting out, I'm saying I'm not paying for something you want to do."

Driscoll called 13 On Your Side when he says he wasn't getting anywhere with Consumers Energy. If he didn't opt-out, the company was threatening to shut off his service. He says a fair solution would be to let him keep what he has or do what they need to do at their cost.

Consumers Energy Spokesman, Roger Morgenstern says the company is willing to work with Driscoll. Morgensternsuggested he get an estimate on the work and when he know how much it will cost, Consumers Energy can try to come up with a fair solution.

In the meantime, the proposed legislation allowing people to opt-out of program without penalty is still making its way through the Michigan House of Representatives. Another hearing is scheduled for March 7, 2017.

Related: Rep. Glenn: Homeowners could reject 'smart meters' at no charge

Consumers says it's smart meters get rid of the need to estimate bills helps them respond better to outages.

Makeit easy to keep up to date with more stories like this.Download theWZZM13 app now.

Have an issue or problem the Watchdog Team should investigate? Emailwatchdog@wzzm13.com.

( 2017WZZM)

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Muskegon man refuses to pay for installation of Consumer's Energy ... - WZZM13.com

PATERSON NJ - 2 Mar, 2017 - Nationwide Window and Siding has earned the home service industrys coveted Angies List Super Service Award, reflecting an exemplary year of customer service to members of the local services marketplace and consumer review site in 2016.

This achievement is particularly significant as Angies List experienced unprecedented member growth in 2016. More than 1.6 million consumers, many of whom were eager to quickly hire highly-qualified service pros, joined Angies List after the company added a new, free membership tier.

Companies that can meet higher demands without missing a beat in their exemplary performance standards truly do stand apart from their peers, said Angies List Founder, Angie Hicks. Only a fraction of the windows and siding companies in New Jersey were able to do it.

Angies List Super Service Award 2016 winners have met strict eligibility requirements, which include an A rating in overall grade, recent grade, and review period grade. The SSA winners must also be in good standing with Angies List, pass a background check and abide by Angies List operational guidelines.

Service company ratings are updated daily on Angies List as new, verified consumer reviews are submitted. Companies are graded on an A through F scale in areas ranging from price to professionalism to punctuality.

The biggest change at Angies List is that we are connecting even more consumers to high quality service professionals, Hicks said. And thats good for everyone.

Nationwide Window and Siding looks forward to another year of hard work and satisfied customers in 2017. To read more about the companys exceptional work and excellent customer service, check out Nationwide Windows Reviews.

ABOUT NATIONWIDE WINDOW AND SIDING:

Nationwide Window and Siding is a highly-rated NJ home improvement company for replacement windows, vinyl siding, doors, roofing, and gutter system installation. Nationwide Windows custom products are built to last and its staff is the most knowledgeable in the industry with one of the only trainers in the state of New Jersey who is certified by the national training program, Installation Masters. Before beginning a project on your home, Nationwide Window offers all their customers a free home estimate.

ABOUT ANGIES LIST:

Angie's List helps facilitate happy transactions between more than 4.5 million consumers nationwide and its collection of highly-rated service providers in more than 720 categories of service, ranging from home improvement to health care. Built on a foundation of more than 10 million verified reviews of local service, Angie's List connects consumers directly to its online marketplace of services from member-reviewed providers, and offers unique tools and support designed to improve the local service experience for both consumers and service professionals.

Media Contact Company Name: Nationwide Window and Siding Contact Person: Lauren Restaino Email: pr@hudsonhorizons.com Country: United States Website: http://www.nationwidewindow.com/

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Nationwide Window and Siding Earns Esteemed 2016 Angie's List ... - Digital Journal

When it comes to protecting our homes from air and moisture infiltration, the building industry is quickly learning that there is such a thing as too tight. No matter how tightly a home is built, water is inevitably going to find its way in. And the tighter we build those walls, the harder it is to keep them dry. Attempting to stop all water and moisture completely is a recipe for disaster and a surefire way to ensure walls will get wet and stay wet.

In many places, building codes are driving the need for better moisture management solutions. The International Residential Code (IRC) now requires the use of water-resistive barriers, but some states have added even more prescriptive measures to their codes that now include the use of drainage planes, and others are expected to follow.

Thankfully, advances in material technology have resulted in innovative solutions for protecting our homes from the elements while also allowing them to both release vapor buildup and, in some cases, even drain bulk water.

Though exterior cladding is the first line of defense against outside water infiltration, housewraps have become a popular way to block whatever water is able to sneak through. And as building assemblies have gotten tighter, housewraps have taken on a new functionhelping to remove trapped water from the building enclosure. Their unique permeability enables them to both block moisture from the outside while also allowing walls to breathe to prevent vapor buildup. And the very latest innovations in housewrap technology is taking this moisture removal function one step further to incorporate drainage strategies, as well.

Todays most advanced housewrap products feature integrated drainage gaps through creping, embossing, weaving, or filament spacers. These new products eliminate the need for furring strips, helping to reduce material costs and streamline installation. Products that achieve a 1mm drainage plane, like TYPARs Drainable Wrap, can be as much as 100 times more effective than standard housewraps at removing bulk water from the wall.

These new drainable housewraps meet all current code requirements for drainability (ASTM E2273) without sacrificing any of the durability and ease of installation benefits builders and contractors have come to expect from premium housewraps, since they essentially handle and install the same. They are also vapor permeable, so moisture will not become trapped in the wall assembly and lead to mold or rot issues.

The ability to drain bulk water becomes even more important when installing a tightly fastened cladding such as cedar siding or fiber cement board, which could allow water trapped between the siding and a standard housewrap to pool. Drainable housewraps also work exceptionally well with reservoir claddings such as brick, stucco and stone, providing a capillary break that prevents any stored water from being forced into the wall assembly.

Advances in technology and building codes are driving adoption of better moisture management systems, and thats a great thing. While we cant completely stop water from getting into walls, there is certainly a lot more builders can do to help them dry out and minimize damage when they do get wet. By adding drainage capabilities to a solid mix of water resistance, durability and permeability, todays newest drainable housewrap products are a terrific way to address this challenge.

More Information

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New Drainable Housewrap Provides Integrative Solution for Moisture Management - Builder Magazine

The Public Works and Facilities Committee discussed four major topics at Mondays meeting, ranging from short-term issues to a six-year plan of sorts.

In terms of more immediate issues discussed, the first was an amendment to the ADEC low interest loan for the Biosolids Project for $10 million. This loan would provide funding necessary to construct the Biosolids Dryer at the Mendenhall Waste Water Treatment Plant, and brings the total loan amount to $20 million. The loan will be repaid through Waste Water Utility revenues, according to a CBJ memo.

The MTP produces more than 5,300 tons of biosolids broken-down sewage sludge produced for fertilization purposes per year, according to a Powerpoint presented Monday. The loan discussed at the meeting would go toward constructing a new dryer, which evaporates moisture from the biosolids.

Secondly, the committee discussed an appropriation of $142,000 of Jensen-Olson Arboretum revenues from the Jensen-Olson Arboretum fund balance. These funds would be appropriated in two ways, as $127,000 would create the Jensen-Olson Arboretum Residence Deferred Maintenance Capital Improvement Program (CIP), and $15,000 would go to the Jenson-Olson Arboretum Parking & Conservatory CIP.

The Deferred Maintenance CIP would fund repairs to the residence in an attempt to prevent further structural damage from moisture to the building, including replacement of floor and wall framing, window, exterior siding and the installation of a ventilation fan. The funds headed to the Parking & Conservatory CIP would supplement funding for a new gravel parking lot for the arboretum.

The committee also discussed the usage of the Channel Vista Drive/Egan Drive Bike Path as an ambulance access route in the event of traffic stoppage on the Egan Drive Retaining Wall section of the highway. The CBJ will coordinate with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in the event of a traffic backup. Those on the committee acknowledged that this scenario is rare, but wanted to be prepared to use the path if the situation does arise.

Earlier this month, representatives from multiple local organizations met at Channel Vista Drive to examine the viability of the plan and see if an ambulance could successfully navigate the path. During the test, an ambulance made it through without incident, traversing the entirety of the path for its entire length from Channel Vista Drive to the Hospital Drive intersection. If necessary, the ambulance could also exit earlier in the route, reaching Egan at the Salmon Creek Reservoir exit/entrance.

The long-term topic at the meeting was the preliminary CIP for the fiscal years 2018 through 2023. The CIP serves as a strategic plan, developed by the CBJ Assembly, its boards and commissions, CBJ staff and the citizens of CBJ. The plan isnt set in stone, but establishes a series of long-term goals and budgetary estimations that will be approved by the Assembly as funding is secured. The committee reviewed the plan during Mondays meeting.

The committee is set to meet March 20, though due to multiple committee members possibly being absent that date, theres a possibility the next meeting wont be until April.

Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at 523-2271 or alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com.

Originally posted here:
City committee talks arboretum money, emergency route, sewage, future budget - Juneau Empire (subscription)

It wont be much longer before Leadwood city officials can begin conducting business in a brand new city hall building rather than inside the basement of a church or the local fire house.

Charlie Lewis, the projects contractor and member of the Leadwood Board of Alderpersons, said he expects construction to be completed within about the next six weeks. Once the building is finished, it will be up to city officials to arrange for some dirt work and to install an asphalt parking lot. Providing furnishings and office supplies will, of course, also be up to the city board.

Aside from a few minor details, the exterior of the building certainly looks done from the siding, windows and doors, to the roof and awning at the front entrance. A peek inside reveals that the new city hall will look much different than the old structure, with a combination courtroom/city meeting room, an office area for the city clerk and water/sewer department clerk, a public restroom near the entrance and other small rooms along the back of the building.

The room for public meetings and court proceedings will have an elevated bench with seating for the municipal judge during court and for the mayor and alderpersons during city meetings.

According to Lewis, finishing the interior walls is the next stage of work putting up drywall and mud, followed by painting along with installation of a dropped ceiling.

The old building, which was damaged in a fire on Sept. 17, 2015, was torn down about a month later after city officials set up a temporary city hall office in the basement of the Leadwood United Methodist Church, directly across the street from the former city hall.

Although the investigation into the cause of the fire by the State Fire Marshals Office was, and is, still ongoing, city officials were given the go-ahead just a couple of weeks after the fire to begin cleaning out the building and salvaging any content that had not been completely destroyed by fire or smoke.

Less than a month after the fire, in early October, a preliminary insurance settlement was reached and board members began to make preliminary plans for a new city hall. The initial settlement included $39,405 for the building, $25,000 for contents and city property and up to $10,000 to tear the building down.

Despite some disagreement among city officials about the economic feasibility of building a new structure, they began to cautiously move forward with the construction project by soliciting bids from contractors in mid-January.

Some controversy over the bid process ensued after receiving only two sealed bids for the construction project one from then-Mayor Pro Tem Lewis with numerous residents voicing their claims that it was unethical, and perhaps illegal, for Lewis to submit a bid in the first place. It was also argued that his position with the city gave him an unfair advantage in the bidding process.

The vote on the bids was tabled until advice and counsel could be obtained to address the residents concerns, which turned out to be unfounded. The Missouri Ethics Commission and Eric Harris, the citys attorney, both came to the conclusion that Lewis involvement in the project, within certain limits, did not violate any ethical or legal concerns and the project briefly recommenced.

The project stalled again with the upcoming April 2016 election and a chance that the composition of Leadwoods governing body would change rather significantly.

As it turned out, Lewis, who had been serving as mayor pro tem since the previous mayor resigned shortly after the April 2015 election, lost his bid for mayor to Dennis Parks. In addition, the board gained two new aldermen.

Things started to get back on track in June, however, when board members voted (with Lewis abstaining due to his direct involvement in the project) to follow through with getting financing costs from a lending institution in order to determine if the city could actually afford to have a new building constructed.

Despite two aldermen voting against the city borrowing such a significant sum Parks voted in favor to break the tie a measure that established the authority for the city to enter into a lease agreement with a finance agency was approved during a public meeting in late October 2016.

The agreement with FS Leasing, LLC provided the city with $225,000 in financing for construction of the building, which was added to the nearly $40,000 insurance payment for the former city hall building.

The pace of progress picked up immediately with a groundbreaking ceremony taking place on Oct. 28 and construction beginning less than a week later at the beginning of November.

Excerpt from:
New city hall nears completion - Daily Journal Online

When the Fayette City Council opened their meeting, they welcomed Scott Vogler with MECO Engineering for discussion on the new water treatment plant. It seems there are still issues plaguing the plant and delaying the transfer of usage to the new system. Brand new valves have been replaced and are still not working despite a field technician monitoring them overnight. The problems are now being blamed on electronic issues. To be continued Personnel policy updates were passed and the council had the first reading for the new ordinance modifying parking on West Davis. Commitment to the Moberly Area Economic Development Corporation was approved for another year. Building updates and repairs were discussed for city hall and the electric distribution building. Three windows on the west side of City Hall will be replaced and any damage to the frames repaired. The Council approved a bid for installation of metal siding on the exterior of the electric distribution building but was put on hold. The roof for that building is in need of replacement and insulation is needed to help regulate the temperature inside the building. The council was not ready to move forward with insulating and replacing the roof without investigating the need for additional repairs. Since it would be make sense to install a new roof and siding at the same time, the whole project was put on hold. Discussion regarding the D.C. Rogers lake property continues. The council now plans to keep the property to control the appearance to the lake entrance. The City Pool is another topic on which discussion continues. Bids are still being sought for repairs, grants for repairs are few, and grants for new pools/water parks are offered more often. The council asked for more information about these grants. It was decided the pool will open this season. Automation for the bulk water fill station is being considered. After the new plant is up and running, there will not be staff available to assist with bulk water. Other issues; the number of utility cut-offs for this month have more or less doubled with a total of 15; staff was requested to check into USDA assistance for City Hall renovations; parking is still being looked at; and March 16 at 6:30 p.m. was scheduled for a budget work session. The Council will meet next on Mar. 7 at 7 p.m.

The rest is here:
Fayette City Council Report - The Democrat Leader (subscription)

The Greater Hazleton Area Civic Partnership has nearly enough money to build a tunnel-like box culvert so that people using the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails hiking and biking trail can safely walk where there is a truck crossing.

Bob Skulsky, the Partnerships executive director, said the group has obtained a $270,000 federal Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) grant, and a commitment for another $100,000 worth of pro bono excavation work from Coal Contractors, whose trucks cross the trail, toward the estimated $400,000 cost.

We need $27,000 to complete the engineering drawings to build it, Skulsky said. That is a high safety priority for us, because it is a dangerous situation. We have signs up, telling people Dont cross, high speed truck traffic, and people still cross. We dont want to see an accident out there.

Skulsky explained the culvert, approximately 16 feet long with solar lighting, will enable hikers to walk underneath the crossing.

It is basically a tunnel under the trail for pedestrians to go through, and the truck traffic goes over the top of it, Skulsky said.

The Partnership shopped for the strongest culvert made.

Originally, they only had water trucks going across, Skulsky said of the coal company. Now, they put a rail siding in, and are filling rail cars. We went in for the strongest culvert they could buy because of the weight of those trucks.

The group wants to build the culvert in June, but CAN DO President Kevin ODonnell said conbsidering the time it takes for permits, it would be a tight schedule.

Skulsky agreed, and said some of the preliminary work is done, and the rest could be done in time for June.

We dont need a lot of the clearances for it, just some permitting, Skulsky said. The preliminary engineering is probably going to take a couple weeks to a month, but could possibly be done within a week.

ODonnell cautioned that a concrete culvert may not be available.

PennDOT (the state Department of Transportation) is monopolizing the capacity of all the pre-cast concrete places now, ODonnell said. The liquid fuels tax gave them so much money they are now replacing every bridge in the world. We had to convert to an aluminum bridge in Humboldt Industrial Park. Aluminum is cheaper, but you want a pre-cast concrete box culvert here. It is a more appropriate use. Get your order in quick.

Another project the Partnership wants to do on the trail this year is the installation of new drainage pipes at the beginning of the trail off East Broad Street.

Sue Nasrani, the rails-to-trails chair, explained why that project is needed.

There is a creek that actually goes right through the trail, she said. When it rains, it washes out the beginning of the trail just before the turn.

Skuksky said that project will be done in April or May.

We believe we are completely ready to go with that, Skulsky said. The estimated cost is $8,333. We got half from Luzerne County Recreation and Conservation fund through a grant. One of the biggest cost factors is the pipes. One of the volunteers went out on his own and got a contractor to donate the pipes to us. The Hazleton City Authority has agreed to do the pro bono work to dig and put the pipes in.

Weather permitting, Skulsky said that project can be done in early spring.

We have a lot of things happening in early spring, and we are not sure we are going to be able to fit them all in, but we pushing to get the pipes in, Skulsky said. We have to do it before the fall (season).

The rails-to-trails committee is looking at installing pavers, or bricks, at the beginning of the trail to thank people who have donated to the trail.

But we cant do that before pipes are in, because that area washes out, Skulsky said

Another spring project will be tree planting.

Skulsky said Jessica Wykoff, the Partnerships Volunteer In Service To America worker, obtained a $2,000 TreeVitalize grant to plant more trees at the trail.

The new trees are going to be planted out on the old abandoned reclaimed mine lands, Skulsky said. They lack any sufficient vegetation yet, so we are developing a riparian buffer (a vegetated area that helps protect a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses) so the trail doesnt wash out. They will be available for adoption. There is a two-week window in the spring which is an optimum time to get them in. Its a lot to get that done. It is weather dependent. If we have five inches of rain before that, you cant dig into the ground.

More trees will be planted with funds from another grant obtained last year to treat diseased hemlock trees in the new picnic area at the beginning of the trail.

The other half of that grant is going to replace trees in the first half-mile of the trail that died, Wykoff said.

Some of the trees will be planted as part of a new Waterboxx project, which is a system designed to give trees in normally dry areas moisture.

It really helps our trees, especially the new ones, because it provides water right around the roots on a regular basis, said Sue Nasrani. It helped the new trees grow.

Finally, the 14th annual Hike and Bike event will be held at the trail on Saturday, June 10.

jdino@standardspeaker.com

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Rails-to-trails projects include lighted 'tunnel' for hikers - Standard Speaker