Kennedy breaks ground
By Anna Jauhola
Thursday, June 11 was a big day for Kennedy.
THE KENNEDY CITY COUNCIL gathered with a crew of Bollig, Northern Plains Contracting and USDA officials to break ground on the long-awaited water project. On Thursday, June 11, they took photos at the site. Pictured, above, Bollig representatives Nathan Gustafson, Cam Larson and Cade Krueger; City Councilors Henry Escareno, Jody Bowman, Mayor Earl Mattson, and Councilor Cindy Urbaniak, City Clerk Melissa Woinarowicz, and Blake Meyer of Northern Plains Contracting. Not pictured: Councilor Jon Turn, who regretfully, was unable to attend this daytime event. (Enterprise photo by Anna Jauhola)
The city council officially helped break ground for the water project, which is headed up by Bollig Engineering, Northern Plains Contracting and the USDA.
A small group gathered for an official meeting at the site that day as there was a quorum of councilors. Cade Krueger, Bollig’s project engineer, prefaced pictures with a few comments.
“The city of Kennedy, Bollig Engineering and Northern Plains Contracting are excited to announce they’ve started construction on the new city drinking water pump station,” Krueger said. “This project will provide residents with desperately needed upgrades to an aging drinking water system, vulnerable to failure and ensure the city has a reliable source of drinking water for years to come.”
Krueger expressed his pride for the city council, mayor and clerk’s sincere concern for the city’s residents and for their time to help make this project happen.
This project has been made possible through USDA Rural Development, which made funding possible.
The council and officials then convened at the construction site for groundbreaking pictures. They donned hardhats and safety vests, and used shovels donated by Gullander Hardware.
Regular council meeting
The day before, on Wednesday, June 10, the council met in regular session for the monthly meeting. During which, Krueger gave an update on the start of the project. He said Northern Plains Contracting started demolition of the underground storage tank and ran into issues with breaking through the concrete. They had to get different equipment to get it broken apart.
This delay and the weather has set back staking out the new reservoir tank and pump station corners until this week. During this time, Terracon will also do soil testing.
The council approved the first payment to Northern Plains Contracting of $58,683.40. This covers the company’s cost to get insurance and performance bonds, along with some of the mobilization, erosion control and document submittals.
To read the whole story, see the June 17, 2026, edition of the Kittson County Enterprise
