by Dennis Dalman
news@thenewsleaders.com
Watab Park in Sartell should have a brand new shelter as soon as late summer.
At its March 26 meeting, the Sartell City Council approved a low bid of $328,762 to do the long-awaited project.
The older shelter in the park will be demolished.
Funding for the project will come from the city’s park-district fund (about $120,000) and the rest (about $180,000) will come from a sales-tax-funded project-bonding fund. There is $1,084,000 remaining in that fund, said Sartell City Administrator/Financial Director Mary Degiovanni.
An official from Winkelman Construction told the council the company will do everything possible, with safety considerations, to keep Watab Park open to the public during construction of the new shelter. The park and the wading pool, he said, should be open all summer as the construction area will be secured and off limits to the public.
The council voted unanimously, 4-0, to approve the bid. Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll was not present at the meeting.
Author: Dennis Dalman
Dalman was born and raised in South St. Cloud, graduated from St. Cloud Tech High School, then graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in English (emphasis on American and British literature) and mass communications (emphasis on print journalism). He studied in London, England for a year (1980-81) where he concentrated on British literature, political science, the history of Great Britain and wrote a book-length study of the British writer V.S. Naipaul. Dalman has been a reporter and weekly columnist for more than 30 years and worked for 16 of those years for the Alexandria Echo Press.