A familiar story was shared with members of the Superior City Council on Monday evening. There have been surprises and project costs are exceeding what was budgeted and more money is needed to bring the work to completion.
This time the project is the reopening of the former Lighthouse Christian Daycare Center located along Superior’s East Seventh Street in what originally was the Nazarene Church
A new organization known as NC3 hopes to open a daycare in the building. NC3 is a joint venture formed by Brodstone Healthcare, Superior Public Schools and the City of Superior.
Treg Vyzourek and John Whetzal were present to update the council on the current project status.
The good news is that staff recruitment is going well. A facility manager and assistant manager have been hired and other positions are being filled. With sufficient staff, they expect the facility will be able to accept children from the community earlier than first anticipated.
The bad news is building preparation is costing more than anticipated.
Costly but unanticipated expenses include about $6,800 for foundation repair, $18,000 for heating and air conditioning and the $3,000 for electrical system upgrades. As a result of these surprises, an additional $30,000 is needed to prepare for the start-up.
The city treasury has already been tapped for $150,000. Of this $100,000 was a loan and $50,000 a grant.
It was not immediately clear where in the city budget the funds could come from,
Council members Rick Disney and James Flores both expressed surprise with regard to the request. Sandra Foote said childcare was only one of many community needs.
A motion was made by Levi Gunn and seconded by Rick Disney to delay discussion of request, but it was with drawn before coming to a vote.
After reviewing possible funding sources, the question was referred to the RedLeg loan committee. If the committee approves the request, a special council meeting may be called to consider loaning the childcare center an additional $30,000.
As Councilman Darrell Brandt said, “If we are this near opening, we don’t want to hold it up.”
In other action Monday night, the council approved the addition of Juan Esqueda and Arron Renz to the fire department. With their addition, the department now has 33 members. Authorized strength is 50 plus a chief and assistant chief. Esqueda comes to the department with experience fighting wild fires and is the department’s only Spanish speaking member.
The plan for the second attempt to install a valve in the city water system was approved. The previous attempt was called off when the needed valve did not arrive as scheduled.
The plan called for isolating the well field from the distribution system at 8 p.m. last night (Wednesday) with the work to be completed and the wells reconnected to the distribution system by 6 a.m. During the isolation period, water customers would be asked to conserve water whenever possible and water was not to be applied to lawns or gardens. Property owners with automatic sprinkler systems were required to turn off their systems.
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