Galesville city council approves water main installation change order

The ongoing infrastructure project on the west side of Galesville got its latest adjustment at the most recent city council meeting after a contractor discovered a water main that would need to be changed out.

McCabe Construction requested a change order in the amount of $25,659 for a water main replacement along Fifth Street, which would swap out the existing four-inch water main with six-inch water main.

Jim Maloney with Davy Engineering, the project engineer for the west side infrastructure project, was at last Thursday’s special meeting of the council to explain the situation in greater detail.

“As the contractor was doing work at the Clark Street intersection with Fifth (Street), they discovered that the main that runs along Fifth for that block is four inch,” Maloney said. “Originally, the mapping showed that as a six. But again, sometimes when construction work happens, they discover a situation different than what was originally anticipated.”

Maloney noted that there is existing six-inch water main at West Ridge Avenue that the new main could connect to.

This change order stems from a prior change order to the project, which added additional street replacement and storm sewer extension on Fifth Street. The two change orders total $178,935.40, bringing the project’s budgeted contingencies down to around $60,000. 

“The whole purpose of the project in this neighborhood is to get rid of four-inch water main. It’s kind of imperative that the water main gets replaced,” Maloney said. “The DNR would also require that, with the street being redone, this six-inch water main needs to be installed.”

At last Thursday’s meeting, the council also approved the issuance of a $1,310,000 general obligation promissory note with Bluff View Bank to provide interim financing for the west side infrastructure project.