Council awards multiple contracts for culvert replacements, approves agreement for railroad plan review

The Carthage City Council voted to approve multiple construction contracts for drainage and culvert replacement projects and authorized payment to Union Pacific Railroad for plan review related to the MacGregor Street bridge project.

Council bills approved during the meeting include:
- Council Bill 25-26: Contract with Elements Construction Concepts Inc. for replacement of West Macon and Center Street box culverts ($308,915 total). Council discussion noted the two culverts accounted for $164,000 and $144,000 respectively.
- Council Bill 25-27: Contract with Elite Site Work for an HH and Chapel project (contract amount $289,559), described in the meeting as part of a larger cost-share program with federal funding (20% local match referenced).
- Council Bill 25-28: Contract with JKS Construction Inc. for an East Chestnut Street box culvert replacement ($165,474).
- Council Bill 25-34: Agreement with Union Pacific Railroad Company for plan review related to the MacGregor Street bridge (authorized payment of $25,000).

Councilmembers noted the culvert and bridge projects are part of planned drainage improvements across the city. One councilmember reiterated frustration that the city must contract and pay the railroad for required plan review even after the city’s engineers completed initial design reviews, noting the railroad’s review requirement is unavoidable for the bridge replacement to proceed.

The contracts were approved by council vote as recorded in the meeting’s reading of those council bills.