By Lea Kopke
Staff Writer
SEYMOUR – The Seymour city council voted to begin the bidding process for the Lake Park bridge project, which will include a new footbridge and shelter, at its meeting June 28.
The project will replace the existing footbridge with a wider one and will sit north of the old one, facing north to line up with a possible pavilion.
Alderperson Steve Hurkman said the bridge will be built out of metal beams and a wooden deck and be either flat or arch-shaped, depending on costs determined in the bidding process.
The bid will be advertised July 8 and a memo following the bid will be presented to the community level July 12, Hurkman said.
He said the bids will open at 2 p.m. July 29, to give staff time to review them and make sure everything is compliant.
During construction, the old bridge will remain intact until the new one is completed.
Alderperson Ryan Kinney said he wanted to make sure the Lake Park swing set, which will be removed during construction, is either reinstalled at its current location or repurposed at another location.
“When I’m down there, all I hear is all the comments of, ‘Oh, I used to do this when I was a kid on this slide and swing set,’” Kinney said. “I wouldn’t want that removed just so a bridge could be moved.”
Hurkman said the playground would be saved, but he wasn’t sure where it would be reinstalled.
Mayor Ryan Kraft said eventually portions of the playground equipment would have to be replaced because of how old it is.
Kraft said he remembers people getting burned on the slide when he was a kid.
“It’s aluminum, and you can almost boil water on it when it sits in the sun…” Kraft said. “Some of that equipment certainly, probably isn’t the safest to have.”
New trail shelter
Outagamie County is putting in new trail shelters along the Newton Blackmour State Trail to serve as resting spots or rain shelters.
One will be built in Seymour, with the county covering construction costs.
The shelter will be a 10×8-foot pole structure with a roof and picnic table.
The county reached out to alderperson Roger Behnke to ask the council for location recommendations.
The county mentioned placing the shelter near State Highway 55, but alderperson Alex Tetzlaff said it wouldn’t make sense to put it in the center of the town, where there are already buildings and a gazebo available for shelter.
“Would it make more sense to put it out a little further, maybe near Mainline (Drive) or a little further west the other way some place, so when you’re in a little more obscure area, if there is a torrential downpour, (it can) help somebody?” Tetzlaff said.
Chief of Police Isaac Schultz said a Mainline location would have more visibility than a Park Lane location, which would discourage kids from vandalizing the shelter.
The council agreed to suggest the county build the shelter off of North Mainline.
Other business
The council also approved:
• Seymour Community Museum’s proposal for the external restoration of the Miller Field building, with a cost of $34,762, covered by museum funds. The building is one of the oldest in town, built in 1894.
• Allowing city staff to write an offer to purchase property within tax increment district (TID) No. 4, specifically the former Coonan oil station. The property would be used for redevelopment purposes. This action took place after closed session.
• An amendment to the city council structure, putting a committee as a whole in place of its separate standing committees. Future city council and committee as a whole meetings will now take place at 6 p.m.
• An amendment that changes the timeframe of the council’s comprehensive plan and extends the territorial zoning ordinance – an agreement between Seymour and the Town of Osbourne – for another 10 years.