Thursday, October 3, 2024
Bert Lehman Photo
By Bert Lehman
The project to replace the I-beams for the grandstand roof at Don Jirschele Stadium at W.A. Olen Park has been halted because the water table is too high.
Justin Mc Auly, Clintonville’s Public Works director, updated the Finance Committee on the project at its Aug. 12 meeting.
City Administrator Caz Muske told the committee that the city would not seek any action at the meeting regarding the bleacher project, due to new information recently received from the project’s contractor.
She said the city would meet with the Clintonville Athletic Club (CAC) this week to present the updated information.
“Based on the new information, we’ll kind of decide together collectively, on how we’re going to move forward with this project,” Muske said. The Clintonville Common Council had approved the project at its May meeting. The project included replacing the I-beams holding up the roof.
Mc Auly said that as soon as the contractor began drilling holes for the project, the holes began filling with water.
“We all know that the water table down there is very high,” Mc Auly said. “They were not anticipating that much water.”
He added that the contractor needs to drill a hole almost 10 1/2-feet deep to install the tubes and I-beams.
“So, they pumped the brakes on the project, just because of that fact,” Mc Auly said.
Instead of replacing the I-beams, Kunkel Engineering and the contractor suggested the possibility of removing the roof from the grandstand, Mc Auly said.
Removing the roof was one of the original options for fixing the safety concerns with the current I-beams of the structure.
“It was save the roof, or demo the roof,” Mc Auly said.
A proposal is currently being developed to demo the roof of the structure, Mc Auly said.
Once the proposal is developed, it would go before the Clintonville Common Council. Mc Auly said he hoped that could be done next month.
An issue that could arise with removing the roof is, if proper precautions aren’t taken, damage to the asphalt could occur if a crane was used to remove the roof and there was no frost in the ground. Matting may have to be placed on the asphalt to alleviate that issue, which would cost more money.
“We have a few things to discuss before we pull the trigger on anything here,” Mc Auly said.
Committee member Darrell Hansen asked if the current I-beams are safe, considering how high the water table is.
“Right now, we have it (bleachers under the roof) flagged off, we don’t want anybody under it (roof structure),” Mc Auly said.
He added that the current I-beams are only two and a half to three feet deep in the ground.
“That’s a lot of weight on them, and we don’t want people underneath it (roof structure),” Mc Auly said.
Muske added that the grandstand bleachers need to remain closed to the public because of safety concerns with the roof.
Mc Auly said the process, which has been going on for a long time, has been frustrating. The city originally received no bids from any company to complete the project. After the company currently working on the project submitted a bid, it made adjustments to the bid so it would fit in the city’s budget.
“They are just not comfortable with their original scope (of work),” Mc Auly said.
Committee member Tammy Strey-Hirt asked Mc Auly what his opinion was as to what the city should do.
Mc Auly said originally he wanted to have the city remove the roof of the grandstand, but he was worried about the cost of doing that. He added that the cost to remove the roof is less than he thought it would be.
The city has $22,000 committed to the grandstand project already, he said.
“We’re stuck with that regardless,” Mc Auly said.
Most of that cost was for the I-beams, which were custom ordered for the project. Those I-beams are already the property of the city.
If the city were to remove the roof of the grandstand, the I-beams could be used for other projects, possibly for new batting cages near the ball field, Mc Auly said.
“I think there will be a purpose for them (I-beams),” Mc Auly said. “We’re not going to lose out. They’re not going to collect dust.”
If the city were to back out of the current project of replacing the I-beams, and instead remove the roof, the contractor thinks that could be done for less than it would cost to replace the I-beams.
“It’s not going to cost us more to do the demo than what we budgeted on this project,” Mc Auly said.
Committee member Greg Rose asked if a replacement roof would be added in the future.
“Or, would we just go without a roof forever?” Rose asked.
Mc Auly said that’s why the city wants to confer with the CAC, because they use the facility the most.
He added that the reason the roof was built in 1989, was to add a sun block for the pitcher and the infielders on the field.
“It wasn’t for a shelter for the spectators,” Mc Auly said. “Obviously, they’re able to achieve both with that.”
If the roof is removed, nothing would block the sun.
