Hallock street project has begun

By Anna Jauhola
The Hallock street project has started in the North Douglas Avenue neighborhood.
During an update meeting on Tuesday, June 24, held to update residents in that neighborhood, Moore Engineering officials said Spruce Valley Construction would mobilize the week before July 4, with construction beginning Monday, July 7. But since that meeting an updated timeline was given with work starting Monday, June 30.
Attending the meeting from Moore Engineering were Jon Pauna, city engineer; Bill Berg, on-site project manager; and Zach Thoma, project management.
The immediate focus will be Douglas Avenue, Pauna said. More crews will come to town later to start on the other streets in the project. First, Spruce Valley will remove the concrete pavement from the road. Then they will dig up the road base and deal with utilities.
“When they’re installing the utilities, they’ll put out temporary water lines,” Pauna said. “You’ll see pipes laid on the ground that ultimately are going to connect back to your house to provide water while they put in new water mains.”
Spruce Valley is responsible for notifying each homeowner when they will install temporary water lines. They may need to do in-home visits to ensure the hook-ups work. This temporary water hook-up will either be through a home’s garden spigot or directly to an existing underground connection. Before the temporary water is turned on, Spruce Valley will make sure the lines pass a bacteria and disinfection test.
“If you know your garden spigot doesn’t work or it has a busted pipe, give city hall or Bill (Berg) a call right away to let them know,” Pauna said. “The last thing they want to do is hook up to a broken line.”
Throughout the project, Spruce Valley is required to provide reasonable access to homes. Pauna reminded the 10 people who attended that with construction comes issues with accessibility. He asked that people plan ahead and coordinate with Moore Engineering to remove things from their yards ahead of direct construction work.
“If you need something out of your yard, give us a heads up – not an hour before you need it,” he said. “You should be able to see the crew coming toward your property. If you need something like your camper or a boat out, get a hold of Bill.”
Moore Engineering will also be organizing garbage pickup and mailbox placement. Unless the road condition doesn’t allow for a garbage truck, pickup will be the same. If trucks can’t access the road, Moore Engineering will work with Spruce Valley to put residential garbage cans at a location agreed upon with Anderson Sanitation, and bring the cans back to their appropriate addresses.
Pauna said they will also coordinate with the Post Office to set up a cluster of mailboxes for mail delivery, because the individual mailboxes will be removed during construction.
Reasonable access will be made to accommodate emergency vehicles as well. Berg said the contractor typically backfills any work they’ve done each day. However, some small spots may be left open to complete a connection the following day.
Moore Engineering will hold weekly meetings with Spruce Valley on-site and will release an update for the city to post on social media and the city website. He said people from the affected neighborhoods and around the city can listen in if they like.
Resident Jan Younggren asked when the 30-day window started for affected property owners to pay down their assessments. City Clerk/Administrator Kendra Kroening said that window began when the city council certified the assessment roll on Tuesday, June 17. Moore Engineering is supposed to be sending out letters with the new assessment figures.
Resident Gabriel Agosto asked whether the plans call for extending the southeast end of North Douglas Avenue. Pauna said that will be extended a bit to provide future access to lots in that area, specifically an empty lot upon which the owner may build a home.
Pauna emphasized throughout the meeting the public needs to contact Moore Engineering representatives directly with any questions during construction.
Berg is the on-site manager and his phone number is 218-234-3299. He is residing in Hallock for the duration of the project this summer. Zach Thoma is another contact, whose number is 218-368-9955.
Pauna said the contract presented the schedule to still have the project substantially completed by Oct. 31 – that is, the first lift of bituminous paving will be done on all sections of street reconstruction by then.