The Salem City Council has approved a bid from USDI to complete this summer’s natural gas system improvement project.
City Manager Annette Sola says USDI was the only bidder, but was also under budget with their $239,100 bid.
“This will continue with the work we have done the last two seasons in the area behind the bowling alley. What we are doing now is replacing the actual service lines. We have 73 service lines that need to be brought up to date in that neighborhood. It will all be new gas meters and service lines to the gas mains. There will still be one more phase we will have to do next year, then that whole neighborhood will be done.”
The council was addressed by the new owner of Appletree Child Development Center on North Jefferson, who complained about the lack of notification and coordination when North Jefferson had to be closed for a day for resurfacing. Brittany Gowler said it kept many parents from bringing their children, resulting in a loss of revenue. She noted two young employees were also harassed while trying to get to work. Sola apologized and said the city was working to improve communications with the contractor doing the resurfacing work on several city streets this year to avoid future problems.
Councilman Gerald Molenhour asked if the city needed to contract out some of its mowing of vacant lots due to high grass. Sola said the problem occurs every spring but usually is under control following the first cut. She noted there was no revenue for doing the mowing, and it would be costly for the city to use an outside contractor.
