The Storm Lake City Council has approved another change order for the College and Third Street Lift Station Project—adding $8,700 to the contract and bringing the total to just over $1.45 million. The resolution passed Monday night, but not without debate.
Assistant City Manager David Derragon laid out the reason for the change: an active Buena Vista University sanitary sewer service discovered during excavation—absent from city maps and tied directly to a main beneath College Avenue that’s slated for abandonment under the new lift station plan.
Councilmember Don Piercy Jr. pressed ISG—the project engineer—about design assumptions and the manhole configuration at College and Third.
ISG Civil Engineer Arie Hoekstra clarified why a second manhole sits north of the intersection.
Piercy questioned the cost of the reroute, estimating a short run from the exposed service to the manhole north of the dig.
Hoekstra acknowledged a pre-design camera run would have revealed the service.
Derragon reiterated the change was necessary to keep BVU’s service active during construction and after the project’s completion. He said more adjustments are likely before the project is complete.
The resolution was approved on a 4–1 roll call vote, with Piercy opposed.
