The Pella City Council continued work on several infrastructure projects at their meeting Tuesday evening.

A bid was approved for a new water main along Fifield Road from West 9th street extending north to West Washington Street, and a contract was awarded to Synergy Contracting for $736,898, which was approximately $88,000 below the engineer’s estimate. A final contract was ultimately deferred for Clark Street water main improvements until August 4th, as council intends to draft and approve a cost-sharing agreement with Pella Corporation to split the financing for the project.

Council also heard a presentation from the Old-Growth Forest Network, a non-profit founded to preserve remaining old-growth forests, to make Big Rock Park the first in Iowa as part of the network already established in 106 forests across 23 states.

A public hearing was scheduled on August 18th to approve a contract for a fiber optic connection from Pella Fiber to Unity Point Hospital in Grinnell. Council also adopted two ordinances — one for a rezoning application for the new Lely North America headquarters and the other at the northern terminus of West 12th Street to change both to industrial zones.