City council discusses Clay Street flood control

Mayor Todd Vanek and Public Works Supervisor Andy Rogers presented a proposal to the Colfax City Council Monday night to hire Taylor Engineering for five hours at $95 per hour to come up with a cost estimate for storm water control on Clay Street to be used in grant applications for the project.

The project is in response to heavy flooding on Clay Street after a fall storm that caused runoff from the farm fields above the street. The Clay Street storm drain system could not handle the water and mud in the runoff.

A temporary fix was the replacement of water bars to spread water that might collect in the field and allow for better soil absorption, according to city staff.

Councilman Jim Kackman said he believes the city would be better off to go through the RFP (requests for proposals) process prior to a cost estimate. An advertisement would request engineering proposals for design of a storm system.

While the process is slower and would cost more, the city would end up with the design in hand on which to base the cost estimate and to apply for grant funding.

Kackman said the city could pay for the RFP process with funds already accrued in the flood/storm drain fund. The RFP would not contract an engineering firm to actually construct the project. Construction engineering would be a separate bid process.