Council member James Lozinski questioned a proposal to add alternate streets to chip sealing and asphalt resurfacing projects, saying the city also needed to think about saving money and keeping local taxes under control.

“The taxpayers are telling me that their taxes are too high. I hear that all the time out in public,” Lozinski said.

Marshall Public Works Director Jason Anderson said that with favorable bids coming in for asphalt resurfacing and chip sealing, the city should consider adding some additional streets to the projects.

“I think it would be really wise, in my opinion just as an engineer, we should take advantage of this pricing,” Anderson said Tuesday.

Photo by Deb Gau Marshall City Council member Craig Schafer joined the discussion on proposed street resurfacing at Tuesday's council meeting.

Low bids for both projects came in well under budget, he said.

In two separate actions, council members voted 6-1 in favor of awarding a chip sealing bid and a bituminous overlay bid including alternate streets. In both council actions, Lozinski cast the vote against.

Anderson said the city was proposing to do chip sealing on parts of a total of 15 local streets. The city received a total of three bids for the project, with the apparent low bid coming in at about $132,459, from Pearson Bros., Inc., of Hanover.

“This is quite a bit under our estimate of $153,000,” Anderson said. He said city staff recommended adding two alternate streets to the chip sealing project, South Bend Avenue and Marguerite Avenue. Doing so would bring the total cost of the project to about $140,585.

The Marshall street department had $165,000 budgeted for the chip sealing project in 2026.

“I know we’ve looked at alternative options. Is that something that your staff is still exploring, to bring the cost down even more for the taxpayers?” Lozinski said.

“We are still evaluating some alternative options,” Anderson said.

He said alternatives for chip sealing could be something Marshall looks at in the future.

The city council voted 6-1 to accept the chip seal bid, with Lozinski casting the vote against.

Council members also considered a resolution for asphalt resurfacing on several city streets. Marshall received a total of four bids for mill and overlay work on parts of 11 city streets.

“We had more bids for the mill and overlay project this year, than I think maybe we ever have, certainly in the last 10 years,” Anderson said. “And the bid numbers were really good.”

The low bid came from Duininck, Inc., of Prinsburg, at about $532,361. “Again, we were under our budgeted amount for the project,” which was $650,000, Anderson said.

He proposed that an additional street, Canoga Park Drive, be added to the project. This would bring the total cost to about $594,841.

“I support the original part. I don’t support the alternate part,” Lozinski said. “That’s $62,000 that we could save,” and either spend later or eliminate from next year’s budget, he said.

Council member Craig Schafer said it was his understanding that the alternates were segments of road that were chosen to fit in with what the pricing would allow. “And we’re not splitting off and shortening one project next year, and then stubbing in to where we have stops and gaps mid-project?” he said.

“We’re really careful. We are never going to go over the budgeted amount, period,” Anderson said. “We’ve always tried to come in under that budget amount and add a street, if we’re able to. That’s much easier to do with the contractor.”

Anderson said city staff tried to keep spending on road resurfacing relatively stable from year to year.

“This year, we’re doing 1.65 miles of overlay. And we’ll also resurface some through reconstruction, so we’re probably a little over two miles of resurfacing. So we really aren’t spending enough to completely keep up on the network. But it’s really a balance,” Anderson said. Marshall has about 80 miles of city streets, Anderson said.

If the city chose not to resurface the alternate streets, they would likely show up in future projects in coming years, Anderson said.

Council members voted 6-1 to award the bid for the mill and overlay work, including the alternate streets. Lozinski cast the vote against.