Plan for delays:
Repaving project between towns to begin July 6

    According to the Iowa Department of Transportation, repaving will begin on Iowa Hwy 76 between Marquette and McGregor on Monday, July 6.       Traffic will be reduced to one lane between the Riverview Tavern and Antimonopoly St. The intersection at Lady Luck will remain open. A pilot car will guide traffic through the construction site. The project will take five to six days, weather permitting.

Fire Station re-roofing begins

The McGregor City Council approved a contract for $10,500 to re-roof the garage bay of the fire station at their June meeting. Work began this week and was well underway on Monday, June 29, when this photo was taken.

Design company with local
connections makes bid for Wetland Centre

By Trudy Balcom

The Great Places Committee saw the first presentation by an engineering and design firm bidding for the contract to design the Wetlands Centre in Marquette.
    The Centre was approved last month by both councils within a 28E Agreement.
    The Centre is part of the local Great Places initiative. It will house a community center, a nature center focusing on area ecosystems, and a  trailhead.
    The Great Places Committee has applied for $121,625 to begin planning for the Centre this year.
    Great Places organizers began soliciting requests for qualifications from various firms  earlier this spring. Five firms submitted responses, and three were chosen to give presentations to the committee.
    The first of the three presentations was given on June 25, by Shive-Hattery Inc., based in Cedar Rapids. The presentation was held in the Chamber office with members of the Great Places Committee and Francis Boggus,  Great Places administrator from the Des Moines office in attendance.
    Shive-Hattery is a large design and engineering firm employing 300 people in seven offices in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri. The company is employee-owned.
    The company offers an array of consulting services from civil engineering, architectural services, planning and construction management, among others.
    Five representatives of the company appeared before the committee and gave a brief presentation and answered questions. They represented the consulting fields of landscape architecture and project management, interpretation and wildlife education, economic development, architecture and civil engineering.
    Craig Erickson, a landscape architect and project leader, headed up the presentation.
    He told the committee that the project for the Wetlands Centre was complex because it involves a site in a floodplain adjacent to a railroad corridor, among a number of other sometimes problematic variables familiar to the committee. He emphasized that thorough advance planning on the uses of the site and the building were critical to the success of the outcome. Success, he explained, had to do with user and visitor satisfaction, what people would get out of a visit to the Wetland Centre.
    “The Department [of Cultural Affairs] isn’t involved in this just to build a building,” Erickson said.
    Jim Pease, a professor at Iowa State University in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, and a regular on Iowa Public Radio’s “Talk at 12” program, also attended the presentation as a Shive-Hattery consultant. He discussed the importance of designing an interpretive plan for the Centre in order to educate visitors and locals about the local environment and its history.
    “We have some great stories to tell [here]…that’s what will draw people in,” he said.
    Erickson also discussed the importance of learning from and collaborating with clients, noting that “relationships are very important” to the company.
    In response to questions of budget, Erickson noted that the total budget of $1.1 million for the total project is tight, and that it will be tough to leave a “healthy contingency” for challenges that may arise. But he said the company has a good record of tracking budgets effectively.
    “We don’t like surprises,” he said.
    Erickson said that with the budget of about $120,000 allotted for this year, he felt that planning for the project up to and including schematic drawings for the building could be completed.
    Another element to the Shive-Hattery bid is their local connections to the area. Former president and CEO Don Hattery and his wife Mary Lou have a retirement home in McGregor.
    Don Hattery became a principal in the firm in 1961, and retired after 34 years in 1995.
    Hattery says that the company responded to the RFQ without his knowledge, but that after he learned of the company’s interest in the project, he wanted to give some input. Two members of the Shive-Hattery team involved in the presentation visited the Hattery’s for lunch beforehand. Hattery said he advised them that he would take a personal interest in the project.
    Monica Foxwell, a civil engineer on the Shive-Hattery team, was also in attendance last week. Foxwell is a 2002 graduate of MFL MarMac.
    The next round of presentations is scheduled for this Thursday, July 2, when presentations will be offered by  Durrant Architects and Engineers  at 1 p.m., and Nuemann Monson Architects at 2:30 p.m.

Council quickly hires
replacement for wastewater operator position

By Lucy Rodenberg

At a noon meeting, the McGregor  City Council made the decision to hire Tom Costello as Wastewater Plant Operator/Street Maintenance employee to replace Darrin Smith, who resigned last week.
    Costello, who is from Lansing, was one of the candidates from the last round of applicants for the position that Smith filled.
    The council approved the rate of $15 an hour for this position. Until Costello becomes Wastewater II certified in October, Don DiLaura of Ossian will act as Affidavit Operator to the Wastewater Plant as required by law. DiLaura will visit the McGregor plant twice weekly until Costello receives his Wastewater II license later this fall.
    Smith told the North Iowa Times that he had no hard feelings with the council, he simply felt that his compensation was not adequate.
    Concerning this item, job descriptions for Street Superintendent/Wastewater Plant Operator Backup, and Wastewater Plant Operator/Street Maintenance were approved.
    A resolution setting the employee wages for Fiscal Year 2009-2010 was approved.
     TIF funds in the amount of $4,184.45 for fiscal year 2008-09 will be paid to McGregor Municipal Utilities by the city to offset the cost of installing utilities  at the Ohmer Ridge. The actual cost of the installation was $24,841.37. The remaining balance will be paid as TIF funds are available in the future.

Strutt honored as Riverfest Commodore in La Crosse

Former McGregor resident Dawson Strutt was recently honored at a special dinner at the La Crosse Radisson Hotel as the La Crosse Riverfest Commodore. The annual event will be held July 1-5 at La Crosse’s Riverside Park.
    Strutt’s wife, Jackie, was named as First Mate for the event that has been held for 26 years. The Strutts reside in Onalaska.
    Strutt was invited by organizers of Riverfest to attend a meeting about an opening-day parade and was informed he had been chosen Commodore when they gave him a Commodore button after he had made a parade presentation. Due to the time it takes to organize a parade, Strutt says there will be none this year, but he will be working on this for future Riverfest events.
    Strutt, a McGregor native, has been a music teacher for 33 years, the last three years teaching at Onalaska High School. He was also named Wisconsin Music Educator of the Year in 2006. Jackie Strutt, a retired teacher, is still involved in the student teaching program at the University of Wisconsin. The Strutts have been enjoying the Riverfest events since 1983 and appreciate that the event is family-orientated.
    Dawson and Jackie Strutt have five children; Derek, Emily, Tyler, Erin and Kjerstin. They have one grandchild. (See photo page 2)

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