Keystone Town Board accepts bid

The town of Keystone  accepted a $1,667,550.62  bid from RCS Construction for the sewer upsize project. The acceptance took place at the Feb. 18 Keystone Town Board meeting. 

The bid was one of 11 the project received. The engineer’s estimate was over $4 million, said town engineer Zach Grapentine. Four bids were under $2 million, three bids under $3 million and one bid was over $5.5 million. Grapentine said when the project began prices were high and there were fewer bidders for projects. 

“Eleven is pretty crazy,” said Grapentine about the number of bids received. 

Grapentine checked all the bids and recommended awarding to RCS. Grapentine said the town always goes with “the lowest responsible bidder.”

Sewer rates may be adjusted after completion of the project, since it was bid lower. The substantial completion date is the last week of September. At that point, the one-year warranty will start. 

“You’re one of our favorite people now,” said trustee Will Parks, “because typically we have the numbers go higher not lower.”

The town received two bids for booster station upgrade projects. One from RESPEC in the amount of  $8,731, and one from Interstate Engineering for  $15,000. Grapentine said each proposal is different. He said his company, Interstate Engineering, was tasked to look at three options, assess the area and  assess the fit. Grapentine said he couldn’t really speak to the RESPEC proposal and did not know what the RESPEC scope included. 

Public works supervisor Jerry Przybylski suggested,  “We can put new pumps in the pit and bring up the  electrical, which is the part we’re worried about” due to code. 

Casey McNulty,   Keystone board president,  said, “This is step one. There’s a lot of complications beyond this.” 

The pumps are located on a site the city does not own. Grapentine said if the town wants to get the project moving he could max out the bid at $8,000. Trustees accepted this.

“This is not just for KBarS. This is for anything —future development and or current,” said McNulty 

The town acquired 10 additional accounts. 

“This isn’t 100 percent KBarS requiring this,” said McNulty, stressing it was not KBarS “directed.”

McNulty said, “There’s additional need there when KBarS comes out of that equation.”

Trustees approved a water and sewer tap fee of $11,950 for KBarS to connect once the expansion is complete. 

Trustees also approved a   $6,719.60 proposal from Alexander Drilling for  hydro-fracturing for well six.

Keystone passed its ordinance prohibiting any merchandise being affixed to the exterior of any building. 

Finance officer Samantha Epler asked on behalf of a business owner if they could hang something during the day and remove it at night. 

“They wanted clarification on that,” said Epler. 

The ordinance does not specify time of day, and thus, that would not be allowed. The ordinance passed, with trustee David Cofoid voting against it. 

Lt. Jason Mitzel of the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office came to the meeting to address concerns about the July 3 fireworks. 

“We’re gonna plan for a big event,” said Mitzel.

The planning process is  ongoing, Mitzel said, but he admitted “as of right now, we don’t have any solid information on who is going to be attending.”

Mitzel said that information may not be clear until “a couple weeks prior to the July 3 event.” 

Mitzel said it will be “all hands on deck” for his office. 

“It’s gonna hopefully be a little smoother than 2020,” Mitzel said. 

He also said there may be changes with Mount Rushmore National Monument itself, when compared to the last fireworks and presidential visit, and foresees highways in the area staying open. 

The Keystone Areas Historical Society (KAHS) is working on new signs “so people can find us better,” said KAHS board president   Deb Dargatz. “We’re just doing tons of stuff” and she wants to add security cameras around the museum. 

This will be discussed with public works. 

“We wanna stay open later than we did last year,” Dagartz said. 

Two hundred emails were sent to schools in the KAHS efforts to revive the Living History School program. 

“We’re going to be teaching the kids what life was like not only in school, but what kids did back then,” said Dargatz. 

Pride Dairy will donate  Thomas Jefferson ice cream for the Living History School program. 

“It’s like tasting history,” said Dargatz. “It’s gonna be huge.”

The senior center Sunday brunch is March 1,  while the monthly St Patrick’s Day themed lunch is March 13. The center is still doing crochet classes Wednesdays at 11 a.m. It also offers free tax preparation by appointment on Fridays.  

McNulty clarified the 250th celebration. The city is not hosting any events and is not overseeing any events. Parking will go through the city, and the city is doing a decorating contest. 

“Anything that goes through a city channel needs to go through Emma (Groninger),” said McNulty.  

Private activities do not need to be approved. 

The next Keystone Town Board meeting is March 4 at 5 p.m.