Signs aren't cheap

It took Davenport aldermen just 16 minutes at a special meeting Thursday to pass most of the things that they could not get approved at a regular meeting the night before.

And they added an item that will spend $659,280 for the construction of two decorative gateways into the city.

The contract for the decorative gateways at West 2nd and Gaines streets and at 55th Street and Welcome Way, drew the most concern Thursday. The low bid by Treiber Construction of Davenport was $212,970 over the city estimate of the cost of the projects “and $104,000 over our funding resources for this project,” Greg Albansoder, a city project manager, said in a memo.

City Administrator Craig Malin said 53 percent of the cost of the gateways will come from grants. The amount over existing resources will be taken from a fee that was to be paid to the consultant the city originally planned to hire for another project.

“We believe it is a reasonable cost for the work to be done,” Malin said of the contract.