La Crosse Board of Public Works Meeting - March 2, 2026
La Crosse Board of Public Works Meeting - March 2, 2026
The Board of Public Works met on March 2, 2026 at 10:01 AM and adjourned at 10:35 AM. All five members were present: Andrea Trane, Erin Goggin, Matt Gallager, Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey, and Tamra Dickinson. The board unanimously approved several agenda items, with discussion on a bidder responsibility requirement, a fire suppression coordination ordinance, a lateral separation project's special assessment communication, and the capital equipment budget work session, which was referred to the next meeting.
Discussion Items
- Approval of Minutes (February 23, 2026): The board approved the minutes from the previous meeting.
- 26-0216 Street Privilege Permit (200 6th St S): Request to transfer existing signs to new owner and reface them. Approved after clarification.
- 25-1168 Bidder's Proof of Responsibility: A developer inquired about the annual re-submission requirement. Director Hawkins noted it follows state statutes and is necessary to verify financial capacity each year. Approved.
- 26-0233 2026 Structure Inspection Quote: Engineering staff explained that bridge and traffic signal inspections are required by DOT every two years, with underwater inspections every five years. One specialized bid was received due to limited qualified firms. Approved.
- 26-0234 Noncompliant Lateral Separation (1024 & 1027 9th St S): Project to replace noncompliant laterals in the right-of-way. Councilmember Goggin asked about cost estimates for property owners. Miles from Engineering stated that with bid numbers now available, an estimate for the special assessment can be calculated and shared. Both property owners are aware and will receive a one-time assessment. Approved.
- 26-0235 Construction Contract Change Orders: Change order for library HVAC project ($19,426) from its contingency fund, which had an initial balance of approximately $96,000 and no prior charges. Approved.
- 26-0127 Fire Suppression System Coordination Ordinance: Derek explained that the ordinance reinforces NFPA code requiring private fire pump testing coordination with the water utility, following a May 2025 incident where a 3,500 GPM pump caused pressure loss and water discoloration over a one-mile radius. Affected businesses include large facilities like Quick Trips, Great Lakes Cheese, and hospitals. Approved.
- 26-0213 Reallocate Unused Funds (Water Utility): Re-allocating $10,000 from a completed project (E296) to new equipment; remaining $10,000 returns to utility cash funds. Approved.
- 26-0134 2027-2031 Capital Equipment Budget Work Session: Discussion included Director Hawkins' debt levy recommendation of $14-15 million (down from last year's ~$16 million). Current requests total ~$13 million. Scoring process for CIP projects uses criteria adopted in 2018-2019. The board chose to refer the item to the March 9, 2026 meeting and request all department heads to present their requests.
Key Outcomes
- Unanimous approvals (5-0) for: Street privilege permit, bidder's proof responsibility, structure inspection quote, lateral separation project quotes, construction change orders, fire suppression ordinance, and water utility fund reallocation.
- Referred to March 9, 2026 the capital equipment budget work session, with a directive for all departments to discuss their requests.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good morning, everyone. We're gonna get this meeting started at 10 01 a.m. on March 2nd, 2026. All Board of Public Work Members are present uh looking for approval for the minutes from February 23rd, 2026. Motion made by Director Train, second by Council President Dickinson. Any discussion or corrections? CNN, please vote. All right, moving on to our first agenda item. Don't know how to say this word. Uh 260216 street privilege permit request for signs over right of way at 2006 Street South. Motion to approve by Director Gallagher. Is there a second second by Council President Dickinson? Uh Director Gallagher. Thanks, Mayor. Um, all of our questions have been answered. Um it's fine with engineering, and it sounds like building inspection approved as well. Any other discussion? Uh I will can you clarify the so the permit is essentially to put these existing signs into the new owner's name and to reface them. None of them are new, so they won't create any um any violations. Awesome. Thank you. All right. See no other discussion, please vote. That motion passes unanimously. Moving on to bidder's proof of responsibility 251168. I know there are three. Right? Yes. Okay. All right, Councilmember Gaga. Thanks, Mayor. Um, I had a developer reach out to me and ask why um why the bidder is required to re-up this every year, and why not add language to um maybe say if assets change that they need to let us know, but each year it seems to they feel it just puts another burden on them. I guess I could try to answer. I don't know if finance has any additional information, but as far as I know, we just are following state statutes, and every company who wants to do public work is required every year to re-up their insurance as well as their financial statements showing that they're qualified to bid. We've never done anything different. Director Hawkins, anything you would like to add? Thank you, Director Gallagher. Oh uh, yeah, thank you for the question. Um, certainly don't disagree with the fact that um can seem to be burdensome and troublesome, but to um go again with Director Gallagher's thoughts and process on this, more so on a state statute piece, but I think it's very important to know um companies can uh even flow right with their financials um pretty easy. I I don't think that this process asking them to do it on a yearly basis is unreasonable just for the fact that um it keeps make sure that that they're still able to perform these functions uh with what they're financially saying because again we don't know where they're going. So to have them do it yearly. I know it's a little bit of a uh cumbersome and a pain, but I would agree. Thank you. All right. Motion to approve by Director Train, second by Director Gallagher. Any other discussion? All right, please vote. Moving on to our next agenda item uh 260233 request to approve 2026 structure inspection quote. Is anyone from staff able to talk about this? Good morning.
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