Several members of the public attended the Feb. 7 Tama City Council meeting to hear discussion regarding the ongoing project to restore the historic Lincoln Highway Bridge on East 5th Street in Tama. Prior to the bridge discussion, Tama Public Library Board member John Legg (center) addressed the council regarding the ongoing budget discussion between the council and the library. In the coming weeks the city will look to finalize its budget for the upcoming fiscal year. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

Well over a dozen residents gathered at Tama City Hall Monday to hear what they thought might be the fate of the historic Lincoln Highway Bridge on 5th Street in Tama.

What transpired however was more of a pitstop than a final destination along the bridge’s recent journey.

For the past several years concerted efforts have been underway to repair the bridge that is now over 105 years old.

An engineering study conducted in the mid-2010s when the city was completing it’s 5th Street reconstruction project found damage to the bridge’s steel structural supports from salt applied to the surface of the bridge during the winter months. Estimates at that time were that the bridge could be used in its present state for up to seven more years.

The city currently has funding commitments from a variety of organizations and donors totaling $69,000 to address repair work to the bridge.

Tama City Council Member Anne Michael addresses a crowd of nearly two dozen that arrived at Tama City Hall Monday hoping to participate in a public hearing for the bid award process to repair Tama's century-old Lincoln Highway Bridge on E. 5th Street. There were no bids received at the conclusion of the bidding process and so there was no public hearing able to be held. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

The Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) had also previously committed to cover the remaining cost of the project, which two years ago was estimated at around $150,000.

The project was sent out for bid in the second half of 2021 and three bids were received and opened last October. The issue was that the low bid of $338,873 was more than double the estimated cost of the project and the high bid was more than four times the amount at $732,900.

Additionally, the DOT also disqualified the three bids on the grounds that the bidding documents were missing certain required instructions.

Per Iowa Code, construction projects involving state agencies are required to make an effort to contact targeted small businesses for the work being done on the project.

The city and the engineering firm working on the project (Shuck-Britson) corrected the bidding document error and reopened the project for bids on Jan. 11 with a deadline of Feb. 2.

Shellie Orngard, Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa was in attendance to lobby on behalf of the Lincoln Highway Bridge in Tama during the city council meeting on Feb. 7. Orngard suggested looking into the possibility of the DOT conducting the bidding process instead of the city's engineering firm in hopes of drawing from a larger pool of potential bidders. -- Photo by Darvin Graham

The council planned to discuss the bids and potentially award the project to a bidder at their Feb. 7 meeting, which was indicated by a public hearing notice in the meeting agenda.

However, this time around the city received no bids for the project and no discussion took place between the council as to a pathway forward for the bridge since the meeting agenda limited the council to only discussing the project bids.

Looking ahead, the council is left with options that are somewhat unclear.

The city could make an appeal to local contractors in hopes that a company with local ties might have interest in working on a local, historic project.

The difficulty with that option is that if the city did that and were able to find a local contractor to do the work, they would lose the funding commitment from the DOT because the DOT funding requires a competitive bid process.

This option would require the city to use their own funding to make up the difference between the amount secured by grants and donations and the final cost of the project.

Previously the discussion to repair the Lincoln Highway Bridge has not included a funding commitment from the city itself.

It is also unclear what the project might actually cost at this stage given the wildly disparate figures seen between the $150,000 estimate from 2019 and the $732,900 bid from last October.

Another option before the council is to remove the historic guard rails and light poles from the bridge and replace the functional components with a box culvert.

If this option was pursued, the city expects the cost of the project to be roughly the same as the cost to restore and preserve the historic bridge, but would also expect the maintenance for the bridge to be less expensive and for the longevity of the box culvert bridge to be longer than the preserved and restored existing bridge.

The expected lifespan of the existing bridge if it were to be restored would be 15 years, wherein a similar process would need to be undertaken again to keep the bridge from falling further into disrepair.

If the council chose to pursue the box culvert option, the project would likely be put out for bid again with the hope that removing the historic preservation requirements from the project would attract more bidders.

A potential third option was brought up Monday by Shellie Orngard, Lincoln Highway Heritage Byway Coordinator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa who was in attendance to lobby on behalf of the bridge.

Orngard said she thought there may be an option to allow the DOT to conduct the bid letting instead of the city’s engineering firm with the hope that the DOT could attract a wider pool of applicants.

City Clerk Alyssa Devig indicated to the News Chronicle following the meeting that there were details with the DOT bid letting option that needed to be explored before that could be considered as a potential third option.

One concern with handing over the bidding process to the DOT would be a question of if the DOT would require the bridge to be widened to meet current truck route standards.

If that were the case, the altering of the bridge could possibly threaten the bridge’s designation on the National Register of Historic Places.

Though it remains unclear how soon the council may determine their next course of action with the Lincoln Highway Bridge, it is expected to be discussed at the next regular meeting on Feb. 21.

In other business…

The council accepted a resignation from full-time paramedic Alea Sylvia. Sylvia resigned her position to take another similar position with the Traer EMS Department. The council approved a job posting to hire for her replacement.

The council held a public hearing for the adoption of a solar energy ordinance to the city code. One question was raised regarding if the city had an inspector available to inspect solar energy systems in city limits and to enforce the ordinance when necessary. The city does not have an inspector but it was indicated that Alliant Energy conducts an inspection before solar systems are allowed to be turned on. Following the hearing the council unanimously approved the solar energy ordinance providing regulations for the construction and operation of solar energy systems within the city limits of Tama.

Tama Fire Chief Ritchie Jimenez addressed the council regarding a handful of upcoming purchases he is expecting to need for the fire department. Jimenez said the department’s bunker gear boots are 10 years old and in need of replacement at around $4,000. The radio for the city’s BIA truck will need to be updated to accommodate the newly installed county radio communication system. Jimenez said the radio may cost close to $3,000 but that the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is expected to refund the department for the cost. Finally, Jimenez requested the council’s permission to begin exploring options for a scheduled replacement for one of the department’s fire trucks. No cost estimate was available but Jimenez said he wanted to begin the process early given the current supply delays affecting the auto industry.