By Jef Rietsma
Vicksburg municipal officials received word of a small but welcome windfall during their July meeting.
Frederick Construction owner Mike Frederick said a variety of circumstances related to construction of the new municipal office resulted in a $30,000 rebate to the village.
Frederick explained the situation to council members July 15.
“We have finally come to a point where we consolidated all our final invoices to the village for this fine building, and as a result of the leadership from the village of Vicksburg, our superintendent and our project manager, I’m here to report that we’re able to give you a little over 1 percent credits back,” he said. “Almost $30,000. Those monies came from credit for supervision dollars that we didn’t use, some credits for some disposals, some energy consumption that was less than what we projected and various general-condition items that we had included within our budget.”
During the course of construction, Frederick said he met monthly with Village Manager Jim Mallery for what he called “a very transparent process.”
“We sat with Jim each month; we’d go through the billing, we’d explain to him what our costs are prior to invoicing the village. When we got to the conclusion of the project, we went back through it internally, audited it, and sat back down with (Mallery) and went back through it,” Frederick said. “There weren’t a tremendous amount of changes, which helps control the cost and we didn’t run into unforeseen soil issues, things of that nature, which are always a risk.”
Meanwhile, Frederick said a ship date for sound panels is Aug. 7. The panels will be installed in the building’s meeting room to absorb sound and reduce the echo effect currently experienced inside the room.
“I think you’re going to be very happy with the end result of that,” he said.
Mallery said he had a recent discussion with a peer about the new $2.7 million facility.
“I focused on the fact we financed it with cash, but more importantly I concluded with the fact it came in under budget,” he said. “The person felt that was more impressive in today’s construction times. So, really a lot of credit to your team for being on top of things and keeping us appraised.”
The 7,800-square-foot municipal building hosted its first Village Council meeting Jan. 29 after day-to-day operations started there Dec. 18.
In other business, council members approved the appointment of Jenner Wile to the village’s Planning Commission. Mallery said Wile was a participant in the village’s inaugural, six-week Citizens’ Academy, which took place earlier this year.
Village President Tim Frisbie said Wile appears committed to the position.
“He lives just down the road from me, we’ve had opportunities to talk quite a bit, (Mallery) and his team have interviewed him and he comes with a high recommendation,” Frisbie said.
Wile’s seat is for a three-year term.
Also, Ron Smith and Susan Frisbie were re-appointed to the Vicksburg District Library Board. Smith is vice president, Frisbie serves as a trustee.
Mallery said there is a delay with local road-improvement projects, which will begin in early August and be completed by the end of the month.
“There’s a company that fill cracks and potholes before the (surface) overlay comes in and they have notified us they can’t be in until the first week of August,” he said. “Back in June, we had notified that it would be July” before the work would begin.
