Pleasanton council approves cost to plan water plant repair

The Pleasanton City Council has approved hiring BG Consultants Inc. for $30,000 to plan and oversee the replacement of the roof over the filter and clarifier systems building at the city's water plant. It will also provide funds for the engineering firm to study providing a secondary water source for the city. (Journal file photo)

By Roger Sims, Journal staff

linncountyjournal@icloud.com

PLEASANTON – Pleasanton’s engineering firm got the green light to begin planning the roof replace over the building that contains the filters and clarifying system at the city council meeting on Monday, Feb. 16. The council also approved a study to look at a secondary water source for the city.

Jason Hoskinson, a representative from BG Consultants Inc., the city’s engineering firm, gave the council a timeline and a scope of work that will include shoring up post and beam that currently supports the roof until it can be removed. Hoskinson, who said in a special meeting on Feb. 10 that the walls are essentially sound, outlined plans to eliminate the post-and-beam support by using trusses to span the width of the building.

The project is expected to cost up to $150,000 and take about three months to complete. (See our related story.)

The cost for the firm to complete the plans and monitor the construction is $25,000, however, Hoskinson also suggested the council pay up to $5,000 for his firm to do a preliminary study on connecting to another water system as a backup supply.

The council approved both the planning and monitoring component as well as the exploration of a secondary supply for $30,000. The city was at one time connected to Linn County Rural Water District No. 2, and while a line to the rural water system runs to the plant, it has been several years since it was in use.

Street plan suffers setback

The council’s plan to begin in earnest working on its streets this spring may have suffered a setback after Taylor Bruce, who was appointed to head the street improvement program after she offered a plan of attack with enthusiasm, resigned her post.

Earlier in the meeting, before Administrator Becky Hegwald announced Bruce’s resignation, the council met behind closed doors for 25 minutes to discuss personnel issues. However, the council did not disclose the nature of that discussion.

Council voted to accept Bruce’s resignation and voted to advertise for a person to be head of the street department and allow Hegwald to interview and hire for that post..

The council also learned of another resignation of sorts, Brianna Nichols with the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce said she no longer wanted to be involved in the planning of General Pleasonton Days and asked that the city take over the event. Nichols has been a key planner of the event for several years, and Mayor Mathew Young thanked her for dedication.

Nichols warned that planning for the 2026 event should begin soon and that she would turn over her notes to the person or persons willing to take it on.

The council approved a request by Fire Chief Jeff Wisdom to purchase three additional handheld radios for the department for $2,242. With the purchase, each firefighter will have a radio, Wisdom said.

Wisdom was also asked to provide a complete list of equipment the fire department still needs for the next meeting. Council members said they understood that prices may not be available for all equipment, but they would at least know what is still needed.

It was the consensus o f the council to have the fire department take the fire truck to medical calls as long as the weather was above freezing instead of taking so many personal vehicles.

In other business, the council:

Learned that the date for the citywide yard sale was now set for May 16 with the citywide cleanup set for May 18.

Received bids for a new skid-steer loader for the city. Hegwald suggested the council take time to review the bids before taking action, and that advice was heeded.

By consensus decided to close the city’s trash compactor on Easter Sunday, April 5, but open the compactor on Wednesday, April 8.

Approved a request by the mayor to amend the resolution on the council’s student representative seat to allow the outgoing representative to sit in on interviews for the upcoming year. By the consensus of the council, the resolution was not changed.

Set a budget work session for Monday, March 30.