Melrose Council Awards $654,515 First Street Contract, Defers ATV Ordinance

MELROSE — April 19, 2018 — Melrose City Council awards $654,515 road contract and punts ATV ordinance rewrite to a future meeting. The council unanimously approved the First Street Northeast reconstruction base bid to Bury Construction for $654,515.95 at its April 19 meeting, with an optional $32,498 storm sewer interceptor add-alternate contingent on written 50 percent cost-share confirmation from the Sauk River Watershed District — a verbal commitment city engineer Mike Thomas said the district had already made. On the ATV front, the council reached consensus to scrap the existing 1,000-pound weight-limit definition and exempt state-licensed, street-legal vehicles from the city's permitting requirement, leaving golf carts subject to the current $25 permit; city attorney Scott Demmick confirmed a competing road bidder's voluntary withdrawal was legally valid because no contract had yet been awarded. The council also voted to apply the same complaint-driven nuisance enforcement steps used for residential properties to commercial districts, with unresolved cases returning to the council rather than going automatically to court.