Vining City Council Member Merlin Rouse was before the Tama County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 18 regarding issues the city faces in repairing two of their main streets.

The city is hoping to resurface one block of Main Avenue as well as 1st Street that runs through town going east and west.

Rouse explained although the streets were in need of repair, the largest problem was with potholes in the paved approaches connecting the streets to County Road V18 and County Road E44.

The city received a bid of $50,358 to resurface the approaches and another bid for $78,000 to repair the streets.

Rouse said the city had enough saved in reserve to pay for one of the projects but not both. His request on behalf of the Vining City Council asked the Board of Supervisors to take on the approach project in hopes of completing both resurfacing projects around the same time.

According to Rouse, the city brings in $11,000 per year in property taxes and because of its low tax base, struggles to fund large infrastructure projects that are periodically needed.

The unanimous response from the supervisors was to decline the request citing the concern of fairness should other municipalities make similar requests.

County Engineer Lyle Brehm reported that when the county undertakes road resurfacing projects, approaches like the ones in Vining are usually included in the scope of the project.

However, Brehm said County Roads V18 and E44 were not part of the Road Department’s five year project plan.

As a temporary measure, the supervisors agreed to direct Brehm’s department to patch the potholes along the described approaches. Brehm said a ballpark cost may come between $5,000 and $10,000, though no official estimates had been tallied.

In other business…

The supervisors approved a bridge construction agreement with the City of Traer to replace a bridge near the east end of town along 1st Street/170th Street. The agreement would contract the County Engineer’s Office to complete the engineering and construction of the new bridge. Next the agreement will go to the Traer City Council for their review.

Brehm reported that the Roads Department are preparing the start of two bridge projects in the coming weeks. The first is along 220th St. west of V Avenue. The other is along B Avenue north of 250th Street.