Good Numbers. Good News.

In the wake of last week's overwhelming vote of support for a Lake Leota dredging project costing no more than $2M the Public Works Committee held a special meeting last night (Monday) to open the bids for dredging.

6 bids were submitted, all with a base price for moving 200,000 cubic yards of clean dirt to the Every property and with a contigency cost for moving rock or weeds, if necessary, to some other location. On the high end was a bid of $1.8M with contigencies for as much as another million.

The bid which will be submitted to the City Council Tuesday night was a much more reasonable and far easier to swallow $885,000 with a contigency cost of $7/yd. That contigency cost would mean that, even if 10% had to be hauled offsite, the total cost for dredging would be $1.25M, far below the projected cost.

It's no secret that I'm an old softie. Our wedding was the last in Leonard Park with the Lake in place. The dam had already been opened when we had our service on the hill. I've seen and read about the meetings and celebrations held with Lake Leota as a focal point. These numbers are very good news, both for the lake and for the taxpayers of Evansville.

The company which submitted the low bid is a Wisconsin company with experience working in the cranberry bogs of the central part of the state. They know how to work if the water is rising.

This is exciting news. By this time next year we should have our lake back.